Playing outside barefoot: how to bulletproof your toddler’s development

Playing outside barefoot is an easy way to boost your son’s physical and mental development. Your toddler’s first steps are one of the key milestones in your their life that you’re desperate to capture on film, and gutted if you miss. But they’ve just started using their little feet and we encase them in shoes forever.

We examine why all toddlers should spend time playing outside barefoot here…

Toddlers should be barefoot as much as possible. By wearing shoes, they are distorting the brand new information that their brain craves, which can impact their brain and statural development at a crucial time in their life.

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5 reasons why your toddler should play outside barefoot

5 reasons why your toddler should play outside barefoot

Let’s face it. The simple act of their first steps is a miracle. Being able to walk on two legs the way we do is one of the factors that propelled us into becoming the world’s top predator and its most successful species.

But for a number of reasons like safety, sanitation and social pressures, we immediately clamp shoes on their feet. An increasingly growing argument is that, if we didn’t evolve our own shoes, do we really need them?

Humans walked, ran and played on much more hostile terrain than most of us deal with nowadays without the need for cushioned soles and cramped leather. Some still do. Let’s look at why those fashionable toddler shoes you bought might be harming them.

1.Physical development

One quarter of all the bones and joints in your entire body can be found in your feet and ankles, showing just how much emphasis evolution has placed on them(1). Just as you wouldn’t limit the movement of their arms and legs, you shouldn’t deprive all of them of their full potential.

Most types of shoes you buy now are for a mix of fashion and protection. Unfortunately fashion and function are often enemies. The more fashionable shoes taper into a narrow rounded point where the toes are, which is the place where the shoes should be widest. Compressing the toes in this way can cause permanent disfigurement and lead to conditions such as bunions, bone spurs and even Mortons Neuroma- irritation of a nerve that can cause pain and swelling(2).

Spending more time barefoot improves other foot-related outcomes. It creates a higher foot arch and a wider foot- reducing the chance of the conditions noted above. The foot arch raising means that it’s stronger, and therefore there’s less chance of developing injuries.

Cushioned shoes with an elevated heel encourage an unnatural running technique. If you leave children to it and let them run around like they love to do, you’ll notice they land on their forefoot- a lesson most adults need to learn. This is the natural way for us all to run, but an elevated heel can force them to land on their heels. Though the extra cushioning mimics protection, the forces exerted still hit their un-cushioned heel, sending all that shock up their legs, through their knees and even into their back.

Wearing shoes that constrict the toe-box can also decrease circulation, further exacerbating the recovery of the above conditions. Walking on bare feet stimulates the soles of the feet, meaning more blood-flow to the area and providing the growing tissues with oxygen.

How to fix your own feet

See it for yourself! As soon as your son is bare foot he’ll be picking things up with their toes, running, climbing and jumping. All those muscles are getting worked and developed. At the same time he’s getting constant feedback on how the ground feels and learning where to walk and not to walk. But it isn’t limited to toddlers!

Are your feet sore after a life of wearing stiff, elevated shoes for work? There are methods to get them back to how they should be. Get your own feet out, set an example and have a great time playing outside with your son. You’ll find that with just a 30 minute barefoot walk a day- on varied terrains ideally- niggles all the way up from your feet to your neck will start to disappear.

Performing foot exercises can also help them to reclaim their natural shape. Read this post for examples of exercises you can do (tbc).

2. Brain development

There are over 200,000 nerve endings in the soles of your child’s feet. To put that in perspective, the only places where they have more is in their fingertips and lips. Those nerves are essential because our soles are supposed to be our connection to the Earth. To run for, potentially, hours across the savannah or through forests would mean countless changes in the ground beneath our feet. Every twig, leaf, rut and mound would mean a different signal the brain needs to coordinate our movement.

Proper development of your child’s foot is vital for motor learning as it’s required for stability when standing and walking. Remember, this is a brand new skill to them.

Thick soled and overly cushioned shoes reduce the sensory information that is required from all those nerve endings. Ideally, the brain craves detailed and accurate signals to allow proper growth. The distorted information it receives leads parts of the brain to become underdeveloped and less able to process small changes in stimuli(3).

Read here about more ways to boost your child’s brainpower

3.Stability and Posture

The result of your child’s feet and ankles becoming weak, along with the brain being less able to read and react to stimuli, is a lack of stability that can continue into later life if left unchecked. With improved sensory feedback from being barefoot regularly, studies show that balance is improved and they benefit from greater motor control.

A better anatomical alignment is also achieved due to them standing flat on their feet as nature intended, instead of wobbling around on unstable cushions. Modern shoes almost always have an elevated heel, which tips the body forward at an unnatural angle, further destabilising the body. The simple act of their feet being flat on the ground realigns the whole body, putting less pressure on the parts that we often complain ache. Issues associated with bad posture include:

Back pain
Shoulder pain
Neck pain
headaches and jaw pain
Less efficient breathing.

4.Grounding

Ground your children!

As already stated, our feet are our connection to the Earth. Well, it seems like this connection is extremely beneficial. Being able to draw strength from the Earth may sound a bit too hippy for you, but wait until you hear the science behind it.

Clearly, humans weren’t designed to wear shoes, or we would have evolved some. Also, you wouldn’t have thought that we would evolve to be so susceptible to all the health disorders we have today. Could it have something to do with the fact that we are missing out on an electric connection to the Earth that our ancestors had?

A potentially significant factor in many health disorders is something called electron deficiency syndrome. By earthing, we allow free electrons into the body in huge numbers. These electrons are then able to neutralise free radicals- molecules that damage healthy tissues by stripping their electrons.

This charge we receive can reduce inflammation, stress and pain as well as improving our blood flow and energy, boosting our sleep and making us generally happier(4).

How long should you spend grounding your children?

As long as you can. Remember, we were made to be barefoot and walking on the Earth’s surface. It’s meant to be our default, not something to limit.

Grounding Sheets

If you want the benefits of earthing (grounding) while you sleep- without sleeping on the ground- then you can get earthing sheets for your bed. Sleep is your time for maximum rest and regeneration. You can optimise it further by plugging the sheet in as you sleep and gaining the benefit of free electrons for the whole night.

The links below are examples that are available on amazon- there are more out there. If you use the links to these products then I get a small commission, but I really believe in the benefits of earthing sheets.

5.Infection Prevention

Aside from fashion, the one argument I get from my son’s mother- and grandmother- is that he needs to wear shoes to protect his feet. As previously discussed, shoes cause far more damage than the tiny stone in my garden that he might step on. But aside from that, by letting his bare feet experience that small stone, or the flower bed, or the dirty puddle, not only is his brain learning and growing, but so is his immune system.

Just as you don’t want to imprison your child in a protective bubble until they grow up, only for them to keel over from the first pathogen that finds them, you don’t want to hide their feet from the dirt. Remember, they have evolved for their feet to be the part of them touching the dirty ground.

By letting small amounts of bacteria onto their skin and into any little cuts they develop- god forbid!- you stimulate their immune system into fighting and defeating this small amount. This exposes your child to more pathogens, building up their tolerance and protecting them in the future. Studies show that early exposure to bacteria in young children appears to have lasting effects on the immune system(5).

Next time you go to the beach or to the park, take their shoes off and let them explore, making them bulletproof in the process.

6.Fun

Aside from the other extremely valid reasons above, your child will love to experience the world beneath their little feet. Let them roam free and see their faces light up in joy.

The 58 muscles associated with their feet will move and flow in ways they never can when stuck in shoes(6). Try it for yourself. Flexing and relaxing all those muscles as well as stimulating the nerve endings is one of the best massages you can get. You’ll feel the relaxation throughout your whole body, relieving stress, chronic pain and perhaps even things like insomnia and PMS- tell your wives to ditch those high heels!(7).

Spending time barefoot is one of the 10 things your son needs this year. Read the rest here!

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