i dont believe the bath part...

I once had a pair of boots (looked like frankenstein shoes) that must've weighed 10 pounds each-not exagerrating-most uncomfortable things i ever wore...

Wow.
I've always hated wearing shoes, and only done so when needed. I have never thought of this as an issue really.. just a preference. I have to say, I find the idea of a "society" based on living without shoes sorta humurous..
I am in no way trying to offend anyone, btw. Just thought I'd share the fact that it brought a smile to my face.
I'm actually very glad to know that I am not alone in my dislike for shoes, and that there are actually a whole lot of people out there who share that view.

J-lynn

Contacted this week by a reporter from the Portland newspaper, interested in doing an article about barefooters. Shame they feel this worthy of a write up, but i'll do it for the chance to expose the hypocrisy and lies some stores sell as law and facts, and to give kudos to the ones that dont care what i'm wearing as long as i'm well behaved and spending money by the fistful.
I'll keep you up to date on how it goes.

Y'know, the only reason I wasn't going barefoot all the time before was because my driving instructor said it was illegal to drive that way, and everywhere I normally go says, "Shirt and shoes required."

I decided, after randomly seeing this thread updated, to just google "barefoot" and came up with a site that said it really isn't illegal to drive barefoot.

I'm definitely going barefoot and just keeping a pair of sandals handy from now on (or at least until my mum decides I need some shoes :roll.

Just come back from Kenya - great place, nice people. Managed to go barefoot a bit, tho had to be careful where and when since in poorer areas the sewage isn't underground ! Doing sport with the teenagers was cool - my feet survived, playing volleyball on hot hard dry mud & stones was a bit punishing, the boys found it funny that I got sore feet after a while - when I explained that my feet are way tougher than most in the UK they were stunned !

Hi, when it came to the slums; i didnt go barefoot since there was too much infection risk; quite a lot of locals only had flip flops and a few of the kids were barefoot through the mud and erm everything else ! We did a sports day which was awesome and lots of the youth ran, footballed, volleyballed etc barefoot - Kenya produces great runners who outpaced us on gravel even when we wore trainers My feet are a bit tough but 1500 m on stones was a bit much - one of the boys made me dead envious when we compared feet (he was amazed to see a wealthy white person barefoot !) - I had not realised soles could get that thick and tough !!!!!!!! I must sort out the photos sometime since there should be some good ones and they certainly prove that Nike dont have the last word ! I'm glad your boy is getting more confident, I lived by the sea and still did not go barefoot as much as i would have liked since i worried what people would think (still do in fact !). Does he go out with his friends barefoot and what do they think, have any negative comments put him off ? Nice to hear that his soles are as hard as leather, I'm sure kids have some inbuilt speed-callusing feature that means that they leave adults feet looking a bit weedy after walking about barefoot for about 3 minutes

No more adventures this year, back to work and sorting out the new house - and paying for it ! But i do get to sort thro the photos which will be a good memory.

I glad your lad has friends that go barefoot, i had a couple, tho more would have been nice. My friend Leon at junior school was to blame for me getting into being baefoot since he never wore shoes at home, and gradually i did the same at his house, then progressed to walking there and back barefoot (about 2 miles) in the summer which gave me my first pleasant experience of having tough soles ! We used to go out barefoot and see which of us would wimp out first.

Sadly, not long before miserable, cold wet weather will stop me running barefoot ... ... already i think my soles have passed their peak of toughness. At least the summer holiday gives kids a decent chance to get used to it - and return to school with tough feet, which was cool when we had to do our first gym lesson at high school barefoot since 99% of the class found the floor: cold, gritty, etc etc - Leon & I were left wondering what the fuss was about. Most of our class thought we were mad, which we happily reinforced on cross country when we took our trainers off (once away from the school & staff) and did the course barefoot !

Hope the weather holds out your way !

Hope they improve ! My place and neghbours are all new and nice so far - we are all banging about a bit doing furniture etc so none of us can complain !

Hope your boy has a +ve influence on the daughter, maybe she will respond to some back to front peer presure and try being barefoot; my experience of kids from teaching and scouting is that before they get too many teenage hang-ups they accept all sorts; some of the 10 - 12 year olds would be barefoot at camp or in the boats, our older coooler teens were not so laid back and a bit dismissive ! However when the older boys tried to do something barefoot at camp they discovered that a summer wearing trainers creates very soft feet whereas some of our juniors had leathery feet impervious to most things - it is probably bad enough being 15 and struggling to look cool walking on a gravel track, then having a 12 year old run past smiling ... ...

I notice that your lads mum does not seem to approve; does this make things hard for you / him ? Does she have any rational arguments against - hopefully his feet are tough enough not to get hurt and give her an excuse to shoe him ???!

Have fun

I guess I'm confused, I thought A lived with you ? what does A think of his mom's "anti-barefoot" stance (no pun) ?

as for the "kid that dared", was he just pushing things or just being a teenager ? and what did the others say when you refused to "punish" the offender ?

Put socks and tennis shoes on today for the first time in what i realized was months-been bf or in sandals all summer-only shoes i've had on are work boots-man it felt so strange, foreign to my feet. didnt like it, was very concious of having the sneakers on, whereas when i'm bf, i dont even think about my feet...similar to the times in karate when we've had to wear shoes for practicing outside or whatever reason, my feet felt like they weighed 50 lbs each...

been trying to get my garden area in shape-i think there must've been an old shed there at one point-almost seems like a foundation in the ground, theres so much wood and glass and concrete, besides every kind of weed invented-but i'm barefoot out there and no problems-and i'don't like to wear gloves either..

actually stepped on a small piece of glass in a store recently-pinched but didnt break skin-checked to make sure i wasnt bleeding-that would be embarrasing
-if my soles werent so tough cant imagine how glass or the garden would tear them up-as it is, i'm invincible-i'm making myself into a superhero, from the feet up!