School shoes

I know I'm not technically a member of this forum yet, but my girls are starting pre-k in 3 weeks at our local elementary school and I thought my question would be more appropriate for the elementary school mommas. My girls will have gym 3 days a week and need to wear sneakers on gym days. While you would think this wouldn't be an issue, my one DDs who is very girly right now, insists on wearing dresses every day. I figure I'll just put leggings or bike shorts under her dresses on gym days (or probably every day for that matter), but I'm anticipating her fighting me on wearing sneakers with dresses. We've had this fight more than once in the last couple of months because "SNEAKERS DON'T LOOK PRETTY WITH A DRESS MOMMY!!!" :wacko:

Soooo I am taking them to get their feet measured today and was looking online and saw mary-jane type shoes that have sneaker-like bottoms. Do you think these would be ok for gym class? Or I could pack her sneakers to change into during gym (the few times I insisted she wear sneakers this summer- during long walks and hikes- she insisted I pack her sandals so she could change into them when we got to our destination). Also, feel free to tell me I'm being too much of a push-over, indulgent mom. I never thought I'd have a girly-girl DD, and I can't believe I give into her so much.

 

The Mary Jane style would be fine. Mostly they look for closed toed and non marking soles

 

I know at my kids' school they have to wear tennis shoes. DD1 has worn the kind of mary janes you're talking about before and had to sit out of gym. I would just pack her tennis shoes in her backpack on gym days and let her know that they will probably ask her to change them. It's funny how we as a parent can tell them something they can/can't do and throw the biggest fit ever. But if it comes from another adult, they comply with no issues. Then again, they may have no issues with her wearing them. My very girly DD was in Jr. K last year and after the first few weeks decided she didn't like wearing dresses on gym days.

 

What about Sketchers? They have running shoes that would probably look fairly good with the dresses.

I would be concerned that the Mary Janes would not give enough support when running. My daughter had a pair of Sporty Mary Jane style Stride Rites, but we ended up have to get her running shoes too, as they did not have enough support.

This may not be an issue at their age though.

Good luck, and if she won't wear runners, try and get the teacher to talk to her. Kids will often listen to the teacher better than the parent.

T

 

Oh, speaking of Sketchers... my DD just got a pair of tennis shoes from there that are are full of sparkles and light up and are lower cut. They would look cute with pants, shorts, skirts and dresses.

 

Our Elementary school requires sneakers with a non-marking sole.

BUT in PreK they could do the mary-jane of a sporty (not dressy) type.

Ask.

That said-- there are some rocking sneakers out there! Glittery, sparkly, etc.

My girls prefer dresses, skirts, skorts, etc and wear sneakers whenever we go hiking, playground (no one likes wood chips in sandals! OUCH!), etc so they are used to putting them on.

One of my DD always fancies it up with 'pretty socks' and we got funky shoelaces ( curly no-ties, glo in the dark, etc). Makes them very 'Fancy Nancy' and they are sneakers! They love them!

They have some plain ked-type sneakers at our Walmart-- coudl she decorate them with stick on jewels & fabric markers???

 

Go look at Sketchers. In kinder, Sarah would wear dresses as much as possible. She did have the Mary Jane type shoe and it was allowed, but it really wasn't the best for running. We switched to the glitzy, sparkle Sketchers after that. No problem at all with her finding something she liked.

And she does now wear more pants and stuff. I think being around other girls more made her realize that the world won't end if she doesn't wear a dress every day. But she still goes for the sparkles and the little fancy touches on her clothes.

Marissa

 

We just have to have non-marking soles. That said, we bought the girls those twinkle toes sketchers, they are really cool! I also bought them a pair of the mary jane type shoes with a rubber sole, but we tend to stick with sneakers on PE day because that is what the school asked us to do.

 

Another vote for the light up skechers. It was the only compromise we could come up with here. Mine are girly too and pick a dress over any other outfit. Last year they could only wear sneakers to pre-k so we bought the skechers...even though I always said there was no way I'd be buying those. :lol: Guess what we got this year?? Another pair of light up skechers! But this time with laces! :yahoo: :lol:

ETA: we get the twinkle toes. They're like a canvas type sneaker with lots of glittery jewelry and lights.

 

I like the idea of letting her pick some pretty/sparkily sneakers. I would do that and tell her that the school rule is sneakers on gym days. Then I would make her wear the sneakers on the gym days even if she didn't want to (but I'm mean :girl_devil, if she give you lots of hassle over it I'd ask the teacher to talk with her and explain the rule.

 

Add another vote for sketchers! My dd loves them because they are uber cute (and she's not even a girly girl), I love them because they fit her insanely long and skinny feet, and have decent support in them. I don't like the price....but sometimes you gotta pay more for something decent. :/

 

My vote is for Twinkle Toes. I think they look adorable with dresses and skirts.

 

I was going to suggest Sketchers too! I have boys, but I wear them myself! I have pretty sparkly purple ones that have sneaker-like bottoms, but still look cute with a skirt or sundress. Actually, I have several pairs of Sketchers (I'm thinking at least 5) and they are very comfortable and durable! I wish they made the Twinkle Toes ones in my size.. :lol:

 

We have Twinkle Toes here as well. :good: I know at our elem school they really recommend some type of sneaker type shoe and really discourage the kids from wearing any kind of dress shoes and sometimes if they are not dressed appropriately they can't participate in PE. That said I have always just told my oldest DD and will tell Emilie as well this year that on PE days you wear either sneakers or Twinkle toes. I don't let my girls wear dresses or skirts on PE days. ardon: For us that is 2 days a week. And that will be tough for Emilie as she would wear a dress or skirt every day.

 

another vote for Sketchers - Abby has pair after pair of them (as they wear out or are outgrown)...Ian too...

 

Here's another suggestion...how about capris for gym days?

This is how I managed to get my girly girl to wear her sneakers for gym days. There are some great frilly/girly/glittery capris that she could still look dressy in that would be completely appropriate for sneakers, even if the sneakers are glittery, pink and pretty

 

Thanks everyone. We survived sneaker shopping and ended up with these for Meara: http://www.striderite.com/store/SiteController/striderite/productdetails?catId=cat1530401SR&productId=8-123975&skuId=***8********CG36832*W070&stockNumber=CG36832&showDefaultOption=true

And these for my picky Ana: http://www.striderite.com/store/SiteController/striderite/productdetails?catId=cat1530401SR&productId=8-127055&skuId=***8********CG39119*W105&stockNumber=CG39119&showDefaultOption=true

They are sufficiently fancy to be appropriate to wear with dresses and Ana actually said "I could also wear these with shorts or pants." this is a huge.

I will check out those sketchers too those. A girl cant have too many shoes right?

 

Those pairs are both super cute!!

We went to get new shoes for my dd today, these are what we chose: Skechers Floating Hearts and they look so cute on her! But I wanted to mention something the sales lady said, she said the Twinkle Toes ones fit funny compared to most shoes. She said the heel on it is very loose, and if you buy a half size or size up for growth, the heel gets too big and can slip around and will likely cause a blister. My dd has very long skinny feet (we bought her size 2 and she'll be 5 in sept!!), so her skinny little heel likely wouldn't fit it right. Just thought I'd mention it here

 

Narrow feet are hard to fit. Twinkle toes/converse won't fit my girls. We went with pumas. Adidas, reebox and mikes tend to fit narrow feet also. I wear pumas or adidas almost exclusively due to my narrow foot

 

Amy wears Merrell Kids Chameleon Arc Jump (why do they have to give them such a crazy name?) nearly every day. They are Mary Jane style sneakers and they work just fine.

Sarah has some Lelli Kelly sneakers (they are extremely expensive new but I found a gently used pair at the twins club sale!) that she loves. They're basically Keds, but ornamented with all sort of sequins and beads and stuff. VERY girly.

There's a whole world of girly sneakers out there!

ETA: OK, I just read the responses more carefully -- it hadn't occurred to me that some schools wouldn't actually consider the Mary Jane ones "sneakers." They have PE today for the very first time -- I hope she doesn't have to sit out!