Back to school with Start-Rite shoes -

One of my least favourite parts about the back to school madness has got to be the dreaded school shoe shopping. I’m sure we’ve all experienced the stress of trying to find a pair of shoes to fit, or a particular design or style (I know mine went through a stage of insisting they had light up shoes!), and on top of that there’s the undeniable fact that school shoes are expensive!

The thing is, when it comes to the kids feet, I will happily pay out for their shoes as long as the quality matches the price tag. The important thing for me is that they fit their feet perfectly, supporting their feet as they grow, and can withstand two play times a day from children who, let’s face it, can be a little crazy when they’re free to run wild. And thankfully, Start-Rite provides just that.

Start-Rite is famous for its durable, stylish shoes, enabling children to explore in comfort and confidence and, having been in business for 227 years, I think it’s safe to say they really do know their stuff. The great thing about Start-Rite is that you can find their shoes stocked right across the country and for us, we had a store fairly local which we visited with the children to have their feet measured for their new shoes.

I’ll be honest, I fully expected to get to the shop and be in a queue of at least twenty, but there was nobody else downstairs in the shoe department and it appears we struck lucky on a rare quiet moment!

One by one the shop assistant measured the children’s feet, starting with Megan. All of my children have narrow feet so the great thing about Start-Rite is that not only do they measure your shoe size, but they measure the width too. Megans feet came out at a 12 E which means she has grown an entire shoe size since last year!

Unfortunately there were very few Start-Rite shoes in stock on our visit but usually the assistant will bring out a selection of shoes in each child’s size so that they can try on a few styles and choose the pair they like, and that fits, the best.

Next up was Eva’s turn who, no surprise, was also a 12 E. For two girls born 15 months apart it always amazes me that not only are they the same height, and the same weight, but even the same shoe size! They really were destined to be twins I’m sure!

Again they only had the one pair in stock in a 12 E which meant Eva was able to try them on to check they fit okay and then later we ordered them directly from the Start-Rite website to be delivered to our home. I love how much time and care the assistant took to really check that the shoes were a good fit so we could be confident of our choice when we ordered later.

Last up was Harry whose feet had grown a whopping two sizes since last Summer. At an 11 E he is fast catching up the girls and I think he may well inherit his Daddy’s big feet!

Luckily there were lots of styles in stock in Harry’s size so he was able to try on several pairs to choose the style he preferred. We steered him towards the most robust looking pair with reinforced toes and double velcro straps, and they seem really sturdy to survive the year!

Within fifteen minutes we were on our way back our of the store, with one pair of shoes and the details of which to order online, and without a single moment of stress! I wish I could say the same about the school uniform shopping, but that’s another story….