One Day Without Shoes

With their One for One program each pair of shoes purchased  from Toms Shoes helps a child in need get one new pair of shoes. Super cool right!? Click here to find out why and how.

In order to help spread the word Toms also started One Day Without Shoes. This is a day of awareness - a day for people like you and me to go barefoot for the entire day to help inform others about their cause and for individuals to see what it's like to go without shoes.

Sebastian showing off no shoes

So the kids and I did it this year. I thought it would be super easy. My kids love going barefoot and half the time do so. I have kids forget their shoes and actually venture into the grocery store or library without shoes while I roll my eyes. I almost felt like this was too easy of a challenge for us.

On this particular day we had a homeschool park outing to go to. We were late and when we arrived we were all rushing out of the car and traipsing across the grass barefoot. I soon started hearing wails from my little kids, about the same time I realized the ground was covered with spiny seed pods from the sweet gum tree. I hopped and danced and maneuvered kids to the playground. If I could just make it to safety with all those sets of tender feet we'd be home free. As I carried the last two kids to safety we were met with unexpected disaster. As other kids and families played happily with shoes on around us, I was shocked to see the ENTIRE playground floor, which is usually soft and bouncy, covered in these spiny seed pods from hell.



I've found out that you can store these and use them in your garden to keep slugs and snails away.



It was seriously one of those swallow me into a hole moments. The world caved around me, I felt like screaming NOOOOOOOOoooooooo! I felt like my NOOOOOoooooooooooooo scream would echo all around me. How can every tree at this park be this kind of tree, and how can this be the the park we go shoeless at? How shoe gods, how I ask!?

These "gum balls" are really fun to collect and really interesting to look at, but they are painful and even dangerous to step on. One of our friends stepped on one once and had to get the pieces surgically removed some were so deep. So the day was starting pretty rough. My kids' friends were running around and my kids wanted to run also. I encouraged them to stay up in the playground slides and tubes where they would be safe, they didn't want to. After I had enough of my heart sinking in fear of foot surgery and my 4 year old had cried the last cry of trying to walk around these torturous seed pods I made us venture to a smaller playground nearby with sand and somehow a little less spiny gumballs. This worked pretty well and even attracted some of their friends to the sand. My two year old started collecting these ouchy things and giving them to me to keep away from him.

Later at home we had a nice discussion about how important shoes are and we had the day to reflect on it.

Of course a week later my kids were forgetting their shoes on the way to the library and stepping on dog poop with bare feet in the yard. Typical spoiled American kids. Sheesh. ;)

Pumping gas~ One Day Without Shoes April 2011