Shoe shopping has never been a fun activity for us.  From a young ages both kids actually did not want to have the uncomfortable feeling of shoes and would take them off as soon as they could.  Which, with my son is a bit problematic as he needs orthotics and actually needs the support of wearing the correct shoes or he ends up with very sore ankles and knees.

My daughter has never worn “cute or “trendy” shoes.  She has had a few ballerina type shoes that look pretty but honestly they last about 10 minutes on her feet before she starts fidgeting and getting irritated with the feeling.  So we tend to stick to takkies and takkies, oh and some trusty wellies.  But 2 year ago she asked if she could get a pair of long leather boots, similar to what I spend most of winter wearing.  I must admit I was at first a bit hesitant, worried she would not wear them but the grandparents were here and they treated her to her first pair of Clarks boots.  She LOVED them.  Really LOVED them.  Wore them the whole winter and right up until it was just too hot and I had to tell her to pack her boots away.  And she would wear them for days out, days in London where she would spend the whole day walking and never once did she fidget, or complain about her boots.  Luckily this year we found an almost identical pair

The Navy boots are from last year, still in good condition and the Tan boots are the new ones

Being a sensory mum I spent sometime thinking about why her boots were such a hit when other shoes fail miserable.  I think the long boots work well because they allow her to wear them over leggings or jeggings (her new favourite) so she has the soft feeling directly against her skin. And there is nothing tight / itchy / irritating around her heal.  That seems to be a big sensory issue with shoes for her.  And we always stick to leather so the more she wears them the softer they get.

For my son however we have the added complication of needing to fit his orthotics inside his shoes and we need to have shoes that are higher up around his ankles.  This often leads to countless shopping trips.  But we seem to have finally found an ankle type boot that works for him – his orthotics fit in nicely and there is the extra support for his ankles which means he is able to walk further distances before his feet start hurting him (he also says they are soft).

I never realized how shoes shopping with sensory kids could be such a big deal.  It has taken us ages to find what works for our two – lots of failed purchases, lots of frustrating shopping trips (and don’t get me started on shops that like to play loud music) but fingers crossed we have found two winter solutions that work for us.

Now I just been to hope and pray like mad that Clarks keep creating the same shoes every year until my two are older.

This is NOT a sponsored post in any shape or form.  It is just a mom rambling on about shoe shopping.  I have included links to the Clarks website to show the shoes that we have bought – it is just for other moms who may need a suggestion, it is not an affiliate link or a paid link in any form