What is the deal with wearing shoes?!

[KelseyAnn]

I remember growing up in my house being forced into shoes that were far too tiny to fit my poor little feet. As a result, my feet were practically binded (a process where some are forced into too tight shoes to prevent growth) and they're a puny size five with my toes curving inward - (from where they tried to escape the too small sides of my shoes.

So, I can't help but think this might be able to happen if one of the Duggar children actually start wearing their shoes.

As it is, I can't say I blame them for avoiding them if they're too tight of big.

I never dared complain.

It was a treat when I got new shoes.

[whateverwhoever]

I always thought it was so weird how characters on TV shows (like full house) were always wearing shoes. I'm from a part of Canada where no one wears shoes inside, ever.

Taking your shoes off was perfectly normal and expected and no one ever hinted it might be considered gross, tacky, or disrespectful...everyone did it.

It's a cultural thing, I get it, but everyone acting like there is something inherently wrong with it is crazy and not thinking through their instinctive dislike of feet . There are a lot of cultural taboos which aren't universal or logical. As someone else said, shoes are way dirtier than feet or socks which get cleaned daily and are exposed to less dirt and dog poop particles that are everywhere outside. I also just don't care about whether my feet get dirty from the floor that everyone else's outdoor shoes have gotten dirty, cause I don't touch them with any other part of my body and my skin keeps the germs out, that's what it's for!

Hands on the other hand, which you go around touching doorknobs and drawers that children have touched, are way dirtier even though they (hopefully!) get washed many times a day.

Now though, I copy others, but at Jill's own wedding she can set the footwear standard. Unless the church had an official or unofficial rule rule, which would have been up to them to inform her of, it was for her to decide.

And seriously, if a church is a special place for God, why would God care? He made her feet right? And all the premodern humans who were barefoot all the time.

[MatthewDuggar]

I grew up in Wisconsin in case it's regional and we never ever wore shoes in the house. We were either barefoot or in socks or slippers. Even visitors were kindly asked to remove shoes right after entering. Now I live in Florida and usually just wear flip flops (omg the horror) I have a special pair for indoors and then others I wear when I go out of the house)

[Catlint]

I grew up in the North Bay Area, California. I lived with my great grandparents and my grandma, and they were VERY old fashioned and formal. I have always been quite the free spirit, and was always going barefoot. My grandparents would tell me I was going to have ugly Fred Flintstone feet and force me to wear some Mary Janes.

Fast forward to today, I do have wide feet but only at the front, very narrow at the back. I still do everything I can barefoot, and when I can't, flip flops. I have even hiked in flip flops, grew up climbing the hills in Marin County barefoot. I wouldn't do that now, because you know, rattlesnakes. However I am barefoot 99% of the time, I have some Minnetonkas for when it's cold. :D

[watchdog]

Sorry if this is off-topic, but what shoes did Jessa wear for her wedding? For some reason I can't imagine a Duggar in heels, though Anna has been in public in heels before. Was she barefoot like Jill? Or was it just typical sandals?

She was barefoot during the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. I assumed she was barefoot during the wedding, too. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[halcionne]

I used to have a roommate who produced porn, and had connections. One of his buddies ran a foot fetish site and was looking for new feet to fill some voids. I have big feet, which is the equivalent of "huge jugs" in regular porn. Cutesy feet are like the barely legal teens section of regular porn.

I got several pairs of cute shoes out of each shoot since I got to keep what I used. :D

This is very interesting. My size 10s are pretty attractive, if I do say so myself. I looked into some fetish stuff for income, but

it turns out you have to actually wear the panties you want to sell and take video of yourself removing them, etc, for authenticity purposes. Too much work and not enough pay.

[zebra #13]

I'm the eldest of 9 kids, and shoes were always a major expense since they were the one item of clothing Mom refused to buy secondhand--littles' feetsies are mostly cartilage and you're not wanting them to take on the shape of someone else's feet. That said, she wanted me IN shoes a whole lot more than I wanted to be in them. I remember one huge fuss in March when I was eight or nine--I wanted to go out barefoot, and she (reasonably) noted that it was very cold out. I looked out and said: Yeah, but there's no *snow*--which was MY gauge. . . .

My proudest summer accomplishment was being the Queen of Follow the Leader: I could even lose the last follower (who was always Keith Throckmorton) by running through the clinkers everyone had in their driveways (coal was still the most used fuel in my neighborhood). Clinkers were hard and very sharp, and no one but me could run through them!

And yup, my feet were filthy by bed time. Had to stand in the tub and scrub. Never blamed my Mom for not wishing them to be in her clean sheets!

As an adult, I've gotten through many winters in nothing more substantial than ballet slippers (real ones, not ones with hard soles). They seem the closest to feeling barefoot of anything I've worn, though Uggs are pretty close.

[elizasc]

We could be twins Zebra

[MalteseBaby]

We know the poor J slaves spent years in flip flops. Here's what the professionals have to say about wearing the filthy things- they are worse than wearing high heels, they are crippling as former wearers age, they cause infections and other nasty things. ( And yes, I do read many other news sources. It just seems that lately the DM has picked out everything the Duggars do and made an informational article on how utterly bad it is). :)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/artic ... limps.html

[lookinggoodforjesus]

We know the poor J slaves spent years in flip flops. Here's what the professionals have to say about wearing the filthy things- they are worse than wearing high heels, they are crippling as former wearers age, they cause infections and other nasty things. ( And yes, I do read many other news sources. It just seems that lately the DM has picked out everything the Duggars do and made an informational article on how utterly bad it is). :)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/artic ... limps.html

I always thought the constant flip flops wearing was climate related? I lived with Filipinos for a bit and they always wore flip flops. I always it was to do with the humidity..?

But yes they're awful for your feet. If they're that obsessed with sandals, Birkenstocks are a much healthier option :D

[MalteseBaby]

I always thought the constant flip flops wearing was climate related? I lived with Filipinos for a bit and they always wore flip flops. I always it was to do with the humidity..?

But yes they're awful for your feet. If they're that obsessed with sandals, Birkenstocks are a much healthier option :D

Heck, no, not " climate related". " Daddy's wallet- related".

I've lived in the South all my life and stopped wearing flip flops when I was around 6 years old and have never been comfortable in them as an adult. ( I have extremely high arches- I really can't keep flip flops on if I wanted to).

None of my friends wear this type of cheap footwear either. It's like wearing a cut up tire- phew.

[kiwiana]

In New Zealand its very common not to wear shoes.

In fact its considered rude and bad manners to wear your shoes into someone's house. Shoes must be removed before entering.

Flip flops (we call them Jandals) are the most common footwear if we are wearing anything, but even we think there is a time and place for shoes, and one of those times are at Weddings!

[Eternalbluepearl]

I wear shoes outside. I don't wear shoes in my house and don't want others to, either. Shoe less at a hospital or wedding? That would be weird. I guess Jill is a bit of a hippie. :lol:

[19 cats and counting]

I have wide feet and high arches and I LIVE in flip flops from May-September. My secret is buying the wedged ones as opposed to the flat ones.

I can't find any other style of sandal that will fit me (that does not look like something raided from a retirement home in FL's closet). If I bought a slide style, I'd have to buy at least a size 9 (I'm a 7) for the width to be appropriate. I wouldn't get my foot into those slide heels in the picture in the article.

[morri]

the only thing to change to make flip flops good is by having a heel strap thats all like huaraches , xero shoes ec. birkenstock are very stiff and have often no heelstrap either and a re molded foot ed no matter what your feet look like so no goo either. my fave shoes are softstar shoes and xero shoes

[donnal]

I never wore shoes growing up and avoided it whenever possible, even in public. I do recall on one occasion, my horrified mother sending me out to wait in the car when she realized I was standing in the middle of the grocery store barefoot. Sensibility was eventually ingrained in me, but I really really hated them... I still kick my shoes off under my desk at work and have to remind myself to put them back on when I'm leaving my office.

[fuscia]

I hate shoes, too. I live in San Diego and wear flip flops on a daily basis...heck, I even got married in (fancy white) flops. My feet hate shoes.

I also live in San Diego, and I take my shoes off as soon as I get in the house. I wear flip flops as often as I can.

[Evenkeel]

No shoes at a wedding is okay by me. I wore flip-flops for my wedding (barefoot for the ceremony because it was in our officiant's house) and knock-off Chucks at the reception. It's pretty common for people to take off their shoes during a wedding dance around here, too. If that was actually a hospital where they were without shoes then I'm very surprised that that was allowed to happen because of liability.

[thuffrn]

As a child in south Florida, I couldn't FIND my shoes half the time, especially in the summer. Yeah, I stood in some red ant piles, got stickers in my feet, and they were filthy at the end of the day. But we were kids, and most of my friends didn't have any on either. Now if we were going to the store or somewhere other than out to play, we had to dig up flip flops or sandals. And yes, its ALWAYS flip flop season in south Florida.

My mom always slipped her shoes off in church. She loved the look of heels but was uncomfortable in them. She slid them back on at the end of services. I am her daughter in that regard.

As for shoes in hospitals, ALWAYS wear shoes in hospitals. As a nurse I can tell that filthy things happen on those floors and there are times when housekeeping is not on hand to sanitize things. In fact, as someone who has worked with the infectious disease nurse closely, I won't scare you with what can be lurking. And please keep 3 years and younger at home unless you are going to the maternity ward. I see people let babies crawl on hospital floors and it makes my blood boil.

OK, a little swerve into off-topic land, but still my $.02.

[FloraKitty35]

I am not going to overly snark on the lack of shoes. I personally prefer to be barefoot when I can. Now for the critical part, I do believe in appropriate shoes for specific activities such as mowing the lawn, skiing, rock climbing/hiking. Did Gothard have a foot fetish, too?

[Firiel]

I am not going to overly snark on the lack of shoes. I personally prefer to be barefoot when I can. Now for the critical part, I do believe in appropriate shoes for specific activities such as mowing the lawn, skiing, rock climbing/hiking. Did Gothard have a foot fetish, too?

Yes, it seems he did. Many of the young women he victimized reported specifically on his trying to "play footsie" with them.

[LadyCrow1313]

At one friend's wedding (which I was a part of), when we got to the reception hall she changed her high-heeled footwear into more comfy (& sensible) Doc Maartens. I think that was a smart move on her part.

For me personally, I go barefoot as often as possible. Maybe I was a hippie in a previous life. :mrgreen:

As for being shoeless @ a wedding? Why not?

[moriah]

I have a weird shoe size -- my feet are really too small for size 5 women's shoes. I wear older kids sizes, and while I've never been all that happy about tweens dressing in very grown-up clothing, I'm grateful many want to wear more grown-up shoes. Sure, I can't find five inch stiletto heels in my size, but egads who wants to wear those? ;) But even as a kid, my heels got blistered very easily from the way shoes fit my feet.

While I'm not fond of standard "high heels", I am quite fond of platform clogs -- there's a wide enough base to the shoe to help balance, but it gives me a little more height so the people at the Fair don't ask me to stand against their height chart. ;) Usually they also are backless, so like sandals they do not rub against the back of my heel and create blisters from excessive movement or tightness. My best thrift store find was a pair of genuine Birkenstock sandals in my size -- given that the "thrift store" was at a Faerie sanctuary, finding any shoes in my size was astounding. I'd had Wal-enstocks before, but the genuine article definitely held up to a lot more wear and tear. Second best was a pair of brown suede clogs with 3 inches of heel (2 inches of that being platform). :)

I have been known to wear that type of footwear even in rather inappropriate weather. For hiking, yes, I wear a pair of boots with strong ankle support, but I have no problem being in sandals for the brief time I am usually outside during the day in the winter here in Arkansas. The only thing I will never do again is wear that style of shoe if it is snowing -- I will tear the house apart looking for my boots if I have to, because getting a flat tire and having to air it up while standing in the snow in sandals is rather painful. Didn't get true frostbite, but frostnip is still excruciating (and even cold water feels like it's burning hot on feet when warming them after such stupidity).

So I can't diss on the Duggars about shoes, so long as the kids all actually do at least have access to appropriate footwear and the kids who are too young to put shoes on by themselves do have someone put them on for them. I definitely prefer something between my feet and scorching asphalt, but if it hurts or gives me blisters, it's kind of a catch-22.

[LadyBlue]

We know the poor J slaves spent years in flip flops. Here's what the professionals have to say about wearing the filthy things- they are worse than wearing high heels, they are crippling as former wearers age, they cause infections and other nasty things. ( And yes, I do read many other news sources. It just seems that lately the DM has picked out everything the Duggars do and made an informational article on how utterly bad it is). :)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/artic ... limps.html

I don't go to Daily Mail, but I follow Katy Bowman (FB page Aligned and Well) and she has a real hatred for both heels and flip flops because of the damage they cause, not just your feet but your skeletal alignment. She also doesn't like slip on sandals as they have similar issues to flip flops.

I guess I'm lucky. I can't stand anything between my toes and I have weak ankles so I've only ever worn a very low heel (typoed hell, which is what I think of heels lol) and those probably less than 15 times in my entire life.

I dread to think what kind of issue those girls are going to have after wearing flip-flops so much.

[LadyBlue]

As for shoes in hospitals, ALWAYS wear shoes in hospitals. As a nurse I can tell that filthy things happen on those floors and there are times when housekeeping is not on hand to sanitize things. In fact, as someone who has worked with the infectious disease nurse closely, I won't scare you with what can be lurking. And please keep 3 years and younger at home unless you are going to the maternity ward. I see people let babies crawl on hospital floors and it makes my blood boil.

OK, a little swerve into off-topic land, but still my $.02.

My husband was in the ER for hours at one point and I had our (then) 15 month old with us. BabyBlue3 could walk, so when he got tired of being in the carrier, I set him down. For some reason he decided to crawl instead. Every time, I'd wash his hands. He still wound up getting a gastro bug and throwing up for a few days. I ended up bringing him to the ER a couple days later for the bug he picked up there.

So yeah, babies/toddlers should never be on the floor in hospitals. Those floors are truly disgusting and I would never, ever walk on them in bare feet.