Devil Shoes

[the_rotten1]

There are these friends of the family who, from time to time, offer to drop off clothes that their daughter has outgrown. Their daughter is several years older than Jeweliana, and most of the cloths are a little baggy, but she loves clothes in general and most of them are nice dresses that I could never afford to buy for her anyway. But then today

Comments

Use them for dress-up play.

[sunspot67]

Deep breath, my friend. Athena is a few years older than Jeweliana, and we are also on the hand-me-down circuit, so we have been there and done that. I agree with you on the whole oversexualization of girls and the damage it does, but also agree that these are not particularly slutty heels.

There's also a health and safety factor to consider. Heels are not good for anyone's feet and back and posture, but especially for a developing young body. If she's active in them there's also a real danger of turning an ankle--and, if she starts wearing shoes that don't let her be active, what kind of message does that send her?

On the other hand, it's not the end of the world that she has a set of heels, and one doesn't want to make them forbidden fruit.

FWIW, here's what we did with Athena, when she was given heels at about the same age. We explained to her that shoes like that were not good for growing feet, but that she could use them to play dress-up. They went into the dress-up box, and she could play with them when ever she played dress-up, but to go out and about she had to wear shoes that were good for her feet and let her play actively.

I hope this helps. I don't think shoes like that should be socially acceptable for girls (or boys) her age as other than for playing dress up, mostly because of how bad they are for growing bodies, and how they force girls not to play actively.

Er, am I allowed to answer even though I'm not exactly a woman? ; )

[the_rotten1]

I think that is an excellent suggestion. I've already told her that they're not the kind of shoes she can wear to play outside. We went out to the lake today and I made her put on something else because there are a few little hills out there and there's a bit of climbing involved to get down to the lake.

I might let her wear them to church or on other occasions that you would dress up for, but other than that she'll have to wear them in the house.

And of course you're allowed to comment. :) I should've added "parents" to the group, but I'm pretty sure you're the only one on my list that's male.