(no subject)

[the_rck]

Cordelia says that her current shoes are starting to pinch, and her school is requiring that we get her a pair of shoes that she will only wear for gym (I’m really not pleased about this because there’s a chance she won’t have gym at all next year and because there’s only a month left to the school year. She’ll wear the dedicated shoes twice a week for an hour for a month and maybe not again after that). My thought, at this point, is to get her some summer shoes to wear every day because it’s mostly warm enough for that and to get her gym shoes. We can worry about warmer everyday shoes in the fall (so that she doesn’t outgrow them over the summer).

If her feet have grown, she’ll need new dress shoes, too, because she’ll no longer be able to wear mine. I just hesitate because she’ll only wear dress shoes about half a dozen times in a year.

I wish I had a more definite idea of how much more Cordelia will grow. If she’s going to outgrow these shoes, we want to get the cheapest we can find. My impression is that Scott thinks that buying shoes at Target is still the way to go. I’m not convinced of that at women’s sizes. He actually thinks that DSW is horrifically expensive. If we were buying dress shoes, I’d fight him on that because it’s actually possible to find flats there, and I almost never see them anywhere else.

Comments

[adrian_turtle]

Target sells women's athletic shoes costing $25-40. DSW sell shoes in the $20-40 price range, though they also sell more expensive ones. If you are specifically looking for women's athletic shoes that cost less than $40, DSW has a larger selection. (Looking at their website, it seems quite a bit larger.)

This may or may not be an advantage for you, of course. My feet tend to be hard to fit, and I want very supportive shoes with the arch support in exactly the right place, so I have better luck when a store has 10 shoes in the right style/size/price than when they only have 3. If Scott hates having too many options to choose from, he might not appreciate this.

[untonuggan]

if you are willing to put up with email spam (or have a dedicated spam email), DSW sometimes has some decent coupons (especially if you are buying several pairs of shoes at once, because the discount tends to scale upwards the more money you spend). also you can sometimes get lucky with their clearance section in the back. I'm pretty sure there is also a birthday-related coupon?

[icecoldrain.livejournal.com]

My mom always bought us shoes a size bigger than our current size when our feet were growing. It worked well, especially because sometimes our feet were a different size anywhere from a day to a week later at times. We got most of our shoes at payless when we were growing up because our feet were always growing lol. They were reasonably good shoes at great prices.

Scott thinks that DSW is expensive?! D: They have really good prices, especially if you go to the clearance section. The clearance section is a little bit harder once you get to sizes 9+ in women's shoes, but there are so many good deals in there. One time I got a pair of designer shoes that were marked down twice plus on clearance for an additional 40% off. They came out to $20!

I have a hard time with Target shoes because they are sooooo stiff unless they're sneakers. I do get slippers there from time to time though lol.

Anyway, it's hard to say how much more Cordelia's feet will grow and when. We thought my feet were finally done growing only for them to grow one more time two years later. Try getting a few pairs in a size bigger just to be safe so that they'll get more use if she grows again.

[the_rck]

The only times Scott's been in a DSW, he didn't look at shoes at all. Once was when I was looking for a new purse, and everything there was high end and not in our price range. The other time, he bought a gift certificate for his sister. He's never actually looked at the shoes.

My feet are size 7 to 7.5, depending on the shoe. Cordelia probably needs 7.5 to 8 now. We won't know until we measure.

Right now, I'm thinking a pair of sneakers for gym and a pair of Crocs, if we can find them, for everyday wear. She likes Crocs.

But it's possible the orthopedist will say no Crocs this summer. He objected to any sort of shoe she could step into when she first injured her knee. He considered them all less stable than her lace up sneakers.

[icecoldrain.livejournal.com]

That's probably why lol. He should def look at their shoes because there's a combination of high end and good quality cheap options in there. Plus, everything in the clearance department is marked way down. If she's wearing anything under a size 10, she should have a lot of options in the clearance department. Size 9 is when it starts getting iffy, size 10 and up is a small section of shoes because it's hard buying shoes in larger women's sizes in general.

I wear a size 11, so hopefully she won't end up big footed because it's so hard shoe shopping at that point lol. I was wearing my mom's shoes at 10, and she wears a 9.5. We've got big feet in our family XD

It's possible! He may want her to wear shoes that offer a lot of support.

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

DSW strikes me as expensive too. It always looks like there should be good deals there, so maybe other people are finding them, but somehow I never do. Though to be fair I stopped looking there a long time ago, so maybe it's changed.

I've had good success with kids' shoes from Payless. Any kids' footwear I've bought at Target has self-destructed astoundingly quickly, or was too uncomfortable for the kid to wear. :(

[the_rck]

Over on DW, adrian_turtle looked up the prices online. Target offers women's gym shoes for between $25 and $40. DSW offers women's gym shoes for between $20 and $40 but has about four times the selection.

Payless is pretty inconvenient for us, so we haven't been there in many, many years. Cordelia's shoes have usually come from Target.

I kind of want to take her somewhere to get her feet sized before we try to buy anything.

[nucleosides.livejournal.com]

Since my kids are still young I use their growth charts from the pediatrician to chart when they may hit future sizes, have future clothing needs, etc. I suppose that one day though this strategy might not work as well as they keep growing older.

[the_rck]

I think the problem at this point is that we're not sure how much more Cordelia will grow. I was fully grown by the time I got to her age. I've been told that that's not normal for girls, but I keep thinking that it might be true of her. But her father is a foot taller than I am, so who knows?

It's just that, if she's done growing, it's worth buying better shoes.

[hamsterwoman]

We also usually go to Payless for kid shoes, knowing they'll outgrow them before destroying them (although it looks like L's foot has pretty much stopped growing, and we've been buying her shoes elsewhere on sale. Target has weird sizes, in my experience, although the combat boots L got there have held up pretty well, better than I had expected.

If she wears sneakers for things other than gym, too, the gym shoes could just become her regular sneakers if she doesn't have PE next year? As long as you buy a size larger enough that she won't outgrow it over the summer.

Also, randomly, H&M often has cheap canvas sneakers (in unusual colors, sometimes, but they can be cute). L has gotten a couple of pairs there for like $8 apiece, and they're surprisingly durable for the price.

Also, your school only has PE twice a week? It's every day in our school district...

[the_rck]

I think my main concern is that Cordelia could stop growing at any time or keep growing for years yet. I didn't grow at all after I turned twelve, and she's about to turn thirteen and is my height (and shoe size) now. I think she's grown about half an inch in the last year.

But Scott is a foot taller than I am, and everyone in his family is tall, so Cordelia could end up taller than she is now. I've also been told that stopping growing at twelve isn't usual.

For the seventh graders, gym is twice a week, alternating with orchestra/band, and that only during certain quarters. I think the problem is that there's only one gym and about twenty classes that have to be scheduled for one or two sessions a week. The school is K-8, so the needs of the different classes vary a lot.

But, if I recall correctly from the parent orientation for the big middle school, gym isn't every day there, either. I think for them, it also alternates with music.

If I'm understanding correctly, next year's eighth graders may not get gym at all. It will be one of twelve available electives, and each child can select six (I think that, if Cordelia continues both orchestra and Chinese, she will get fewer electives because those both run all year).

[ayebydan]

I don't think her feet will grow that much more. All me and my friends were at our lasting foot size by her age. I didn't grow much taller after that either. Again, neither did my friends so I'd maybe just have a couple of pairs for the moment and see how she goes over the summer. Amazon are great for cheap shoes and trainers if you dig keep enough.