Do you have children with normal feet? You should count yourselves very blessed. Our second oldest has wide feet. Well, really they’re extra wide.

Like his father, this means buying shoes for him is a challenge. My husband has been known to buy very expensive shoes that were perfect in the store but miraculously no longer fit after being worn twice. Ugh.

So, the extra wide footed boy has done the same thing to me in the past. I’ve bought shoes for him that were “fine” at the store but have only been worn twice since then. This wouldn’t be such a big deal if we could buy Payless shoes, but only a few brands make extra wide shoes. We have always bought him Stride Rites because that is what fits him. But at almost $50 per pair, I simply can’t afford for him to just not wear shoes.

Today we had another shoe buying adventure. We put the first pair on, and he said they were “okay”. I said “okay like you’ll wear them, or okay like they don’t really feel that good?” “Okay like they don’t really feel that good” Sometimes I get answers like, “Mostly good, except they’re too bumpy.” I have no idea what that means, but I’ve learned to never buy another pair of shoes that are too bumpy. We finally settled on a pair of lace-up Stride Rites. They said he needed a 2 1/2, but we bought a three. Hopefully, that we’ll buy us a couple of extra months before we have to shoe shop again. Now I just have to get shoes for one more child. Maybe we’ll only have to take out a small home equity loan to buy everyone shoes this spring.