I said to her ” WHAT IF those words Ben said to you are like ping pong balls. What if they come towards you, but bounce right off in another direction. Or what if you ducked and they missed you altogether?”

She looked confused. But she stopped crying. I knew my girl was still emotionally labile at that moment, so decided to recruit her brother for my demonstration. I made a circle with my finger and thumb to represent a ping pong ball and told him to imagine a nasty word inside it – let’s take “degage” which means “get lost” in French and had been said to him 2 days previous. (We live in Switzerland…to clarify).

I told him to imagine it was coming straight for his head and asked him what he could do?

And he ducked!

And he laughed. And then Chloë said “my turn, my turn!!”

They ducked, they kicked the imaginary ball, they blew it away, and finally they simply agreed that they didn’t even need to do anything…that it could simply bounce off them.

And off they went to school, ready to try it out in their little minds should the situation arise that someone would say something mean today.

I often tell them the old Taoist parable “The Empty Boat” by Chuang Tzu.

​Once upon a time, there was a Zen monk living in a small monastery near a forest and by a lake. One day he decides to meditate alone, away from his monastery. He takes his boat out to the middle of the lake, moors it there, closes his eyes, and begins his meditation. After a few hours of undisturbed silence, he suddenly feels the bump of another boat colliding with his own.

With his eyes still closed, he senses his anger rising, and by the time he opens his eyes, he is ready to scream at the boatman who dared disturb his meditation. But when he opens his eyes, he sees it is an empty boat that had probably got untethered and floated to the middle of the lake.

At that moment, the monk realises that the anger is within him; it merely needs the bump of an external object to provoke it out of him.

From then on, whenever he came across someone who irritated him or provoked him to anger, he reminded himself: ”The other person is merely an empty boat. The anger is within me……”

Taken from www.dailytenminutes.com

I asked the kids… “what makes us angry? Is it other people or things that happen to us? Or is it something else?” It is not the empty boat, but our reaction to it that causes the anger. All the people or situations that make us upset and angry are just like the empty boat.

NOTHING has the power to make us angry or upset but ourselves.

It’s one of the most important lessons in resilience I can give my children and a little imagination and story-telling is always great for this. I also think it is vital to ALLOW the emotions that boil up to do just that in childhood, let them bubble up, allow them to be processed, and often if the feelings are permitted and acknowledged compassionately, they move on to something else a few minutes later anyway!

Let me know if this is helpful with your children! Or you!!

Want to know how I Get My Kids to Walk Long Distances… or Walk at all? Click here.

The post Nasty words are like ping pong balls: Teaching resilience through imagery appeared first on Bare Soled Girl.

I watched this docudrama, and have been shaking my head in disbelief ever since. It is being described by Netflix as exploring “the dangerous human impact of social networking, with tech experts sounding the alarm on their own creations.”

So I knew that social media giants mine data, and monitor what we are doing to some degree, but it never bothered me that much because I figured….I always have a choice. I have a choice what to click, I have a choice when to put the phone down. 

I’ll never forget coming out of a 10-day silent Vipassana meditation retreat in Ireland, feeling absolute peace and contentment. It was time to collect my belongings (mobile phones were confiscated for the duration of the retreat). I wasn’t alone in feeling complete dread at the thought of switching on my phone again and entering back into that world. 

Why are we doing this to ourselves? If we are completely honest, the majority of us would say we hate spending so much time on our phones. So why do it? Because, as soon as we get on there, our psychology is hijacked! Algorithms are placed and exploited to predict and influence human behaviour. Tristan Harris, a former design ethicist at Google compares our phones to slot machines. “Each time you’re swiping down, it’s like a slot machine,” he says. “You don’t know what’s coming next. Sometimes it’s a beautiful photo. Sometimes it’s just an ad.” This feeds into the ‘pull to refresh’ function. Every time we pull down to refresh our timeline, we don’t know what we’ll discover. It’s a nice distraction from everyday life. If I am having a moment of worry, frustration, or plain boredom, there is my adult pacifier just waiting for me to check out my Instagram stories. It’s alluring, it draws you in and makes you keep coming back. And if you disengage, you get peppered with little messages to grab your attention and pull you back in. My favourite one is “you’ve been tagged in someone’s photo.” Now that’s an impossible one to ignore, well done Facebook. 

But here’s the thing, I am as guilty as the creators of these platforms. I create posts, and stories to grab your attention. 

Why, because I want to grow my following. 

Why, because I want more people to know about barefoot footwear and natural movement. 

My intentions are genuine, but I am making efforts to draw you in, to take you away from your REAL life to spend time on my profile. And the worst thing is that when I am out with my family, my 5-year-old reminds me that I should really photograph a certain landscape or activity to put on Instagram. Here’s a 5-year-old, living completely in the now, and I have already somehow implanted the idea in her head that moments of presence need to be documented on social media. And she has taken part in all my unboxing videos. On the screen, it looks so innocent and sweet, right? The reality is its bullshit. 

I still want to share barefoot footwear that is good for your body, and for the planet. But I don”t want to take you away from your lives. You all have one life. And it is way too important to spend scrolling images of barefoot shoes, no matter how gorgeous (and sustainable!) they are. So, from today, I will be changing a few things on my Instagram, for my benefit and hopefully the benefit of my readers.

I will be removing all story highlights.

I won’t be posting any more stories.

I won’t be posting any more unboxing videos.

Each post on my feed will be mindfully chosen and written, and images 100% unfiltered.

I will focus more on building my website than on growing my Instagram.

I will leave you all with the trailer to the documentary so you can decide for yourself whether to watch it or not. Thankfully, there are lots of good ideas at the end for how we can help ourselves and our children. Check out their website here with lots of information including this great app.

The post Has your mind been hijacked? appeared first on Bare Soled Girl.

Hi everyone! For this weeks post, one of my clients has allowed me to post the entire details of an email consult here. I thought it might be helpful as I am sure many of you will relate to her issues. Section 1 consists of a questionnaire to gain more understanding of her day to day routine, and Section 2 gives a host of ideas to incorporate more movement into her day in a fun and effortless way.

SECTION 1: QUESTIONNAIRE

Bare Soled Girl: Could you tell me a little about your general health, if you have any issues that prevent you from navigating your day to day life (injuries, illness etc)?

Client: I have a dodgy pelvis since pregnancy that hasn’t gone back to normal. Otherwise, fit and healthy, if a little ‘unfit’.

BSG: I would highly recommend this series of movements, to wake up and mobilise your shoulder blades, spine, pelvis and ribcage. There are 4 movements in total. I do these every day and they feel amazing. P.S. I will be taking Gary Wards courses very soon!

BSG: What is your average weekday like? Try to be as specific as possible, right down to the hour you get up, go to bed, what your morning vs afternoon schedule is etc etc….the more info the better!

Client: I’m a stay at home mum to a 4-year-old boy. I co-sleep with him so the early hours of the morning often involve lying in a fixed position trying not to move him up.

BSG: You said you end up in a fixed position in the early morning. See if you can make it a slightly different ‘fixed’ position each time…change up the geometry a little and try not to tense in this position. That way you are ‘squishing’ your cells in a slightly different way each time…and that all classifies as movement!!!

Client: He wakes about 7 and I either go back to bed if I’m tired or get up and play with him for a few hours, indoors or in the garden doing gardening.

BSG: A little gardening alignment tip:

Client: We walk down to town for lunch, walk around town, shop and go to the park and walk home. (All in all about 4000 steps – hard to increase it – nowhere else to go!)

BSG: Perhaps don’t ALWAYS walk on the same path through your town, and if you have nowhere else to walk mix it up somehow. If it’s a loop, go in a different direction. Walk on the other side of the sidewalk. Change something, it will make you more alert. Bend down to look at flowers etc with son in the same way as shown above in gardening video to get in some squats. Have some fun at the playground:

Client: I tend to push him home in the pushchair as we live up a very steep hill.

BSG: Try some games to encourage your little boy up the steep hill…” meet you there” game for eg…where you run to the next available tree, car etc and he does the same etc…..you could also toy with the idea of carrying him for parts of the steep hill stretch in various ways; piggyback, in one arm, around your back etc…be playful with the idea, a great way to get some upper body strength work.

Client: Then it’s dinner and bedtime. He goes to bed at 7, where I lie with him till he falls asleep,

BSG: You could incorporate some of your restorative stretches here, some breathing or meditation?

Client: Then I come down and chat with my partner / watch TV/read till bedtime – but I do sit on the floor for this.

BSG: Get yourself some yoga tune-up balls here, to enjoy self-massage of tight fascia while you watch tv, a super delicious way to unwind.

BSG: What does a weekend usually consist of for you?

Client: Usually drive somewhere to do shopping, lunch and a trip. Not nearly as much walking as I’d like as my partner is often tired and we haven’t really got into the routine of pushing ourselves (2-3000 steps)

BSG: Try frisbee or flying a kite in the park. I recently invested in a Flybold Slackline kit and it’s incredible how the whole family want to get involved, including my partner who is also often tired. It is amazing fun and there’s always cheap ones going on eBay.

BSG: Is there any way your family could socialise at the weekend in a forest/park with a few friends/other families? : playing some games together, having a picnic etc.. (written before pandemic)

BSG: What does your time for fitness/exercise look like?

Client: I do Katy Bowman’s online classes 1 or 2 x a week. I often try and stretch/move while I’m sitting. I could do more if I didn’t waste time on my phone. I could go to classes on the weekend if I wanted to, but I prefer Katy’s work to a yoga class!

BSG: Perhaps rather than going to a class, take the opportunity to get in a longer walk on possibly more challenging ground. Get your fiancee to drop you to the next village etc and make your way back… like a little mini-adventure for yourself. Keep going with stretches and moves here and there throughout the day, that’s all great. Think about downloading an app that helps you track your phone usage.

Also, dance with your son, swing him, lift him up as part of the dance etc, all great strengthening and mobility work.

BSG: What changes would you like to see in your daily life and why? What do you feel is holding you back from fitness goals. Feel free to elaborate into other lifestyle goals here aside from fitness. I just want to get a feel for your life as it is right now and how to work within that framework.

Client: Without drastically changing my lifestyle, I don’t know how to walk more, get my upper body moving and help my son move more. My son will be home educated so our life won’t change much but there’s scope for more. We live in a small town so unless we walk to another village it’s not really possible to walk any further. Unless I was less anxious about taking longer trips maybe. It sounds silly but I always wish my partner was really into this so he could help me lead the way, but I feel I have to drag my family along on this mission with me.

BSG: Yes it does seem hard when you know this is beneficial for the whole family but your other half isn’t as excited about it! I have been there! Just keep going…he will begin to see the fun you are having and the changes you are making to your mind and body and he may become indirectly interested from seeing you!

SECTION 2: MORE MOVEMENT SUGGESTIONS

Ideas for More Garden Movement:

• Keep climbing that tree! Encourage your little boy to climb and model by climbing a little yourself!
• If you can get your hands on an old ladder and raise it at both ends and crawl over it together. Crawling is an incredible movement that incorporates balance work and coordination with whole-body movement
• Crawling Instructions: Your hands should be directly under your shoulders and knees under your hips. Hands straight ahead with elbow pits forward. Bring your heels up so you can use your toes to move. Next, apply pressure in your hands and pop your knees off the ground around 4 inches. Your back should be roughly parallel to the ground. You want to maintain this level throughout your crawl. To begin crawling, move in a contralateral pattern (opposite hand and foot.) Move your right hand forward and left foot forward at the same time. Then switch. Left hand forward, right foot forward. Look in front of you to see where you are going, but only lift your head as much as necessary to see. Be careful not to let your knees flare out to the side. To make sure your knees are properly aligned, keep your knee in line with your elbow.
• Take various items outside and practice balancing/jumping from one to the next, you can be kangaroos together…..can be yoga blocks, cushions, books etc etc…possibilities are endless.
• Go barefoot in the grass and whatever other ‘vitamin textured’ ground you have access to…rocks, stones etc….mobilise your feet as much as you can with different terrain.
• Grab these cards from Primal Play and have some fun together!

Ideas for More General Outdoor Movement:

• Is there any way you could squeeze in a 20-minute walk before your fiancee heads out to work in the morning a few mornings a week?

Ideas for More Indoor Movement:

• Squat down on the floor to prep vegetables for your meal.
• Grate cheese, carrot etc by hand (some handwork!)
• Put your cups up on a high shelf so you have to reach up for them.
• Practice sitting in different ways on the floor, and getting up in different ways.
• Make or buy a textured mat that you can place in an area where you walk over frequently. You could also buy one such as this, which is also aesthetically beautiful (see image below).

• Crawl from room to room and invite your son to attach to your belly like a koala! Or on your back like a camel!

• Each time you go up your stairs, do it a little differently. For example one time you could take 2 steps at a time, next time go up sideways, next time crawl etc
• Did I already mention dance? What a fun way to move your family. Just choose some upbeat music and off you go!
• Try Cosmic Kids Yoga here with your little one (see below eg. video) I do it with my kids as it is great fun!

I hope these ideas are helpful. Remember, movement is something to be enjoyed. It is part of the essence of being human. Let’s not turn it into punishment!

The post How to add more movement to your life…without having to change your life! appeared first on Bare Soled Girl.

Between packing to go back on the road, getting on the road and campervan breakdown, I have (somehow!) had the opportunity to interview a great bunch of ladies from a Facebook group named DIY Moccs & Minimals, who make shoes (especially barefoot styles) for themselves and their children. The shoes they make are not only aesthetically beautiful but fully functional. I found it intriguing to exchange with them, and whilst I haven’t gotten round to making a pair myself (i will though!), I thought it might be interesting to showcase the talents of these mums.

Why make your own shoes?

To begin the conversation, I asked the ladies what sparked their interest in making their own shoes. Hope Bartel’s first attempt at making shoes was in Autumn of 2014 when she realized that after a long summer of wearing Xero Shoes DIY Feeltrue Kit sandals almost exclusively, her winter boots were going to kill her feet and back! So she started shopping around online for minimalist boot options, and they were way out of her price range (as a side note, the situation for barefoot boot choice has already improved since then). Hopes background is in visual art and her dad had always DIY-ed things, so she thought,

“Hey, I could probably make a passable pair of boots myself.”

Consequently, she drove to the local Tandy leather store and bought a bag full of leather scraps and a couple of big pieces of suede leather, an awl, some leather needles, and some artificial sinew. She draped and wrapped the suede around her feet to figure out the shapes she needed and kept on improvising from there. She used some wool felt from the fabric store for lining and rubber flooring material she found inexpensively online for the soles. That first pair of boots looked very homemade, but they were incredibly comfortable and saw her through a whole winter.

Lena Gillan has always loved walking in bare feet, so wanted a way to keep the barefoot feel, but with ground protection. For Ana Marinova, the initial idea of making shoes was fascinating to her, choosing the desired fabrics and colors and so on.

Necessity sparked Svea Gamla’s interest, as she wasn’t able to find what she was looking for in stores. The cost of healthy footwear was a primary factor for Hannah Lamm. As a family of 6, she has a lot of feet to cover! Aside from being sold on barefoot principles, she also really values handmade over mass-produced shoes coming from the other side of the world. Sara Reimold always loved interesting shoes but could rarely find ones that were comfortable and affordable. Sara makes a lot of her own clothes and decided that she could probably learn to make shoes herself too. Like Hannah, her interest grew as her family grew!

Patterns or freestyle?

Hannah uses various patterns, as she felt with a large family it would be time-consuming to design different patterns for each child. She primarily uses the TipTaps pattern (discussed later) for her son and appreciates the precision and detail of the instructions, and final look of the shoes, and how it’s highly customizable to the shape of each foot.

Ana has used the Barfoot pattern (discussed later), for the most conventional-looking shoes with the barefoot qualities of a wide toe box, lightweight, zero heel and as flexible as you want them to be! Svea uses patterns to learn the techniques but then alters to suit her needs. Hope and Lena design their own patterns and told me that all that’s essentially required to get started is leather or fabric scraps, scissors, needles, and a hole puncher!

“It sounds like Blue Peter really!”

Hope does find the process challenging, but that’s part of why she likes it. She enjoys visualizing different styles and designing for the comfort of her feet and her kids’ feet, and she has discovered she really enjoys working with leather.

Sara creates patterns, as well as using existing ones. She has a pair of lasts (shoe-shaped molds) that she uses to make patterns for herself and her daughter. For her boys, however, she generally follows a pattern, often TipTaps for “regular” shoes or Twig + Tale boots (discussed later). Hannahs favorite pattern is the Twig and Tale Tie-Back Boots. I would agree with Hope, when she stated that she prefers to have all-natural materials touching the foot whenever possible, for reasons of breathability and comfort. Like myself, she also strives to keep her use of plastic to a minimum, so that extends into her shoemaking endeavors as well.

Sewing Machine or handsewn?

The ladies all agree that an inspired beginner seamstress can follow a pattern, and a sewing machine is not necessary, although Hannah adds the tip that if you need to sew by hand, to try to choose a shoe style and pattern with as few seams as possible! Sara does state that the trickiest part about working with leather is that holes stay forever, so it’s very difficult to go back and fix a mistake without it compromising the look or function of the shoe.

Pricing of DIY Shoes

Hannah stated that her shoes typically work out to be about $10-$15 per pair. She likes to use thrifted leather jackets and has bought bundles of leather scraps. Good soling materials are the major expense (rubber and contact cement), but some people get around that by using things like recycled bike innertubes or yoga mats. She likes her shoes to look polished and professional, and she feels like good soling helps with that. Sara agrees with Hannah that whilst costs are different for each pair, it is usually not more than $10-$15. She also buys large pieces of leather scraps (for the uppers) from a local upholstery store for about $8 a pound, and she uses vegetable-tanned leather for soles, usually finishing with toughtek on the bottom to prevent sliding.

Durability

Everyone felt that DIY shoes typically hold out well, even the winter styles. Hannah informed me:

“If it’s very slushy out my kids put on their waterproof boots. I did not attempt any major weather-proofing. But, I will say that I am surprised at how warm our toes stay in our wool & leather boots! No one complains of cold feet! I do occasionally need to re-glue spots around the soles, but by-and-large they are holding up great.”

Sara affirms the importance of durability for kids’ shoes. They scuff the toes, slide, drag their feet, jump and climb…for this reason the sole needs to be really solidly put on, more so than on adult shoes.

Advice for Beginners:

Hannah’s advice:

“I would say not to be scared or intimidated. I made simple sandals years ago and then thought about making actual shoes for a year and a half before I ever attempted it because I was so intimidated. Assess your skills and materials, decide what kind of shoe you are interested in making, look for a pattern, and go for it! And ask questions. The “maker” community in general is very friendly and open.”

Sarah’s advice:

“I guarantee you will make some pairs that just don’t look or work the way you hoped. But practice makes perfect and with a little persistence you can have an addictive and useful hobby. I absolutely love being able to make comfortable, inexpensive, personalized, cute shoes for my family. It’s very satisfying. And it doesn’t take a lot of expensive tools or a separate room to do it. Most of my tools fit in a small box.”

Hope Bartel has allowed me to detail her pattern making process for anyone interested in drafting their own pattern.

• Step 1: Put on a pair of socks you’re about to toss. Stand on a piece of paper. Use dozens of short pieces of duct tape to cover your foot up past where you want the edges of the shoe to go and down onto the paper. Finally, use a pen or permanent marker to sketch the different pieces of your shoes onto the tape (e.g., I drew side pieces on one foot and toe/tongue and heel pieces on the other foot).
• Step 2: On some part of the duct tape you won’t be using for your pattern, cut a slit far enough to wiggle your feet free. Cut out the pieces you need to draft a pattern.
• Step 3: Layout the duct tape/sock pattern pieces as flat as you can (cut little slits as needed, like in the piece that goes over the toes) and trace around each piece on a sheet of paper.

• Step 4: Smooth out the lines you’ve traced and cut out your paper pattern. Make adjustments as needed and note where you need to add space for stitching.
• Step 5: Trace around your paper patterns onto the leather you’re using, paying careful attention to lefts and rights. My design is for unlined leather uppers, hence not needing a seam allowance everywhere. Usually, I make the pattern without, so I can add as needed on the leather and have the pattern line to follow for stitching.

Note: You can use masking tape instead, but it kinda fell apart on me when I did. Duct tape is a little bit overkill, but comfortably sturdy.

List of Pattern Makers:

Online Webstores:

• Twig and Tale (New Zealand Based, with English patterns)

• Rabaukowitsch (German based, with English patterns)

• Fluff Store (German based, currently with English adult pattern)

• Lena Gillan Design for dresses, journals, and jewelry (shoe patterns to be added soon)

Etsy Pattern Makers

• Nuria from Nurimu Patterns makes leather patterns not only for baby shoes, but also for stylish bags and wallets

• Mary from Precious Patterns :

“I have been sewing since I was twelve. I have a bachelor’s degree in Advertising Design from the University of Maryland. When my children were young I sold my original designs to craft, sewing and quilting magazines as a way to stay home with my children. Eventually most of the magazines went out of business and I had to find a new way to be creative. I found Etsy in 2008 and opened up a shop selling onesies and baby shoes. People loved the baby shoes and kept asking me if I would sell a sewing pattern with instructions so they could make the shoes. At that time, not very many shops were selling sewing patterns so I decided to give it a try and created three shoe patterns. They started selling the first night I posted them on Etsy. Over the years, I have continued to come up with new shoe toy sewing patterns for babies.”

• Annie from Sew U Can Patterns :

“I started making soft sole shoe patterns for my daughter when she started walking because nothing fit her feet and I refused to force her into a too narrow baby shoe. I’m largely influenced by the work of Katy Bowman.”

• Summer from IThinkSewDesign has been selling patterns on Etsy since 2017

Interview with Pattern Makers

Inga Langhans (Rabaukowitsch) and Lisa Spearman (Twig and Tale)

What sparked your interest in making your own shoes?

Inga:

At the moment barefoot shoe brands are sprouting out of the ground. I have tested various brands and found that barefoot shoes are much easier to make than conventional shoes because of their minimalism. I was not satisfied with the price-performance ratio of most of the brands I have bought so far, specifically the durability and weather resistance. I thought: I’ll just give it a try.

Lisa:

I wanted to make some warm slippers for my wee girl and I had a lot of 100% pure New Zealand wool blankets at my disposal, so I set to work creating a pattern where I could utilize this beautiful fabric. After such an enthusiastic response from everyone about the patters, we then created the animal versions of the shoes and boots, and the adult boot versions too.

Is the process difficult? Do you need to be an experienced seamstress?

Inga:

Frankly, no. Well, it is not harder to sew than other projects, the principle is actually quite simple. But you should be able to handle your sewing machine and know the materials you want to use. It is very important to work very accurately and to plan a lot of time. Especially cutting is very important.

Lisa:

Both patterns are suitable for a beginner/adventurous beginner. If you can use a sewing machine to sew a straight line and a curve, then you can make either of these shoes/boots!

Do you need a sewing machine?

Inga:

Yes, depending on the material you want to use for your shoes, your machine should be able to sew several layers of it. Usually, a domestic sewing machine is sufficient.

Lisa:

I find it easier and faster to use a sewing machine, but either of them could be sewn by hand if desired.

What aspects of a shoe are most important for a child’s foot in your opinion?

Inga:

Many children inadvertently wear shoes that are too small, as the shoes are often smaller than their size indicates. It is important that children have at least 12 mm of room to roll in the shoe. 18 mm is perfect if the child should also have some room to grow. Furthermore, a shoe should be adapted to the natural shape of the foot and not the other way round.

The width of the shoe should fit the foot and not simply be wide per se. A shoe that is too long and too wide is just as bad for the foot and walking as one that is too tight. Therefore my pattern contains detailed instructions for individual fitting.

Lisa:

I wanted footwear with a wide toe box, flexible natural materials for sole, easy to get on and off for small children, and fully lined so no exposed seams on the inside to irritate.

How much do they work out at per pair?

Inga:

This is difficult to generalize and depends very much on the materials used. Depending on the size, shoes can be upcycled well, e.g. you can sew shoes out of old leather clothes. Also, the furniture industry often has cheap leftovers to give away. If you want to use new eco-certified leather, it will, of course, cost more.

Apart from the material costs mentioned above, you will need sole plates, shoemaker’s glue, eyelets, and laces. That is about 20 – 30 Euro additionally. But this is the first purchase and the material is enough for several pairs of shoes. The most expensive thing about shoes is your working time.

Lisa:

Because they use such small amounts of fabric, I mostly use scraps from other projects. I generally use leather for the soles which I cut from old garments from the thrift store, so they are very inexpensive to make.

How do they hold up in winter weather/rain?

Inga:

According to the used material like every shoe.

Lisa:

These were initially designed as indoor shoes/boots however they have been successfully made outdoor-friendly by many many customers by using different types of sole material.

Any advice for anyone starting out?

Inga:

Take enough time and work with an alert mind. Especially the cut for two mirror-inverted shoes requires a lot of concentration. Don’t expect a miracle with the first shoe, usually, it takes some practice to sew a nice pair of shoes, even if you are an advanced sewer. This can be sobering. But when it comes to sewing shoes, we are all kind of beginners! Join the Rabaukowitsch community for more support!

Lisa:

Give it a go! Making footwear is such a rewarding and transformational experience and you can start out with a simple basic version first and work your way up into more complex versions as you go. For more support, join the Twig + Tale community where 30k members are happy to share experiences and advice.

Thanks to Hope Bartel, Lena Gillan, Ana Marinova, Svea Gamla, Hannah Lamm, Sara Reimold for their wonderful contributions to this post!

The post The Women who Make their Kids’ Shoes appeared first on Bare Soled Girl.

Family walks used to be a bit of a nightmare for us. I would get my groove on, pack the snacks, put on the layers and look forward to a nice relaxing loooooong forest walk.

It would go something like this:

We arrive at the forest. Kids won’t get out of the car. Caroline and Joel get annoyed because kids won’t get out of the car. “What’s wrong with MY kids,” I say. “Kids are supposed to LOVE NATURE right?”

Finally, kids are coaxed out with promises of snacks along the way… Leading them along like dogs being teased for treats. It is all going OK until after 10 minutes, Chloe refuses point-blank to go an inch further. And the crying starts. I lose the will to live. We turn around. We go home. End of the family walk.

Now I know better.

These are things I picked up from my training and also from trial and error with my guys. Perhaps some of these tips will be useful for you!

1. Endurance issues: children deal with endurance and fatigue issues just the same as adults. If they don’t build up their walking endurance, they will, of course, have meltdowns. They are not putting it on, they are probably tired when they say they are (or possibly have Paw Patrol on their mind!).
2. Training: start with what the child is able for. See it as training and bring them out every day. Time how long they can comfortably manage and increase the walk by 10% each week.
3. Your own mindset: if you are trying to get your child to undertake a long walk for their well-being, but you would actually rather be scrolling on Facebook, that will translate across. Get into a different mindset. Kids learn by modeling. If you need to pop down to the local store for milk, start seeing it as an opportunity for 20 minutes extra movement for you and your child in your day. (Yes, it’s quicker to hop in the car, but just be aware what values are being passed on here.) If your child’s school is a 10 minutes walk, then start walking there together, even if you only do it twice a week. Let them see that movement is a normal and natural part of your day and they will follow your lead.
4. Have a goal in mind for the child, for example… Let’s go to the park and feed the fish, let’s go count how many snails are down by Peter’s wall, etc.
5. Change things up. Kids can get bored with their walking routes the same as adults can. Take a different path to the play-park, take a detour, play hide and seek behind trees along the way, search for bugs, get creative.
6. Cover the bases: sleep and food… Don’t head out for a walk right before lunchtime for example.
7. Remember your community! Try to get other families out with you. We started inviting other families to the forest on Saturdays, as a form of life ‘stacking’. Katy Bowman, my teacher introduced me to this concept… Why not exercise whilst spending time with your family, or whilst chatting to a friend, whilst having bonding time with your kids, whilst eating, whilst getting fresh air!
8. Don’t tell them you are going for a ‘walk’. Tell them you are going to see something, check something out. Because we have done quite long walks since starting our trip, Chloe has developed an aversion to ‘walks’… So now we simply don’t use the word ‘walk’ and there isn’t a problem.
9. Remember ground texture. Walking on flat, level paths all the time fails to provide some of the “movement nutrients” our feet, ankles, calves, knees, and other body parts need to be strong and mobile. If you don’t live in the countryside with bumpy rocky paths, or near a beach, you can get creative here. Collect some stones from outside and create a little area that the kids can walk on every day. Explain to them that it’s good for their feet to ‘squish’ and move in different directions to strengthen up all the little bones and muscles. I have some wood cut to random lengths, yoga blocks, pillows, blankets, stones, balls, and other assorted things that my kids play on and sit on. Look around you outside for “vitamin texture”. Make it a game… “Let’s find bumpy ground to step on!!!”
10. Get barefoot shoes on your kids! I cannot stress this enough. Your child may be wearing high heels and you are not even aware of this. Also, weight is a problem when it comes to regular shoes and even though, to you they may feel OK, a child weighs less than an adult so shoes should also weigh less than that of an adult. I’m amazed at how heavy some conventional kids’ shoes are. No wonder kids don’t want to walk anywhere!!! Remember… The higher the heel, the more forward the body is projected, and the shorter the foot, the more forward the body is projected. ( Also, the taller the body, the more forward the body is projected, which is not so relevant in a discussion about kids). See this video that explains this concept visually.

Make sure the shoes have the following:

• A wide toe box. Why? Being smashed into “cast-like” narrow toe boxes weakens kids’ feet. A wide toe box aids balance and coordinated movement.

• A flexible sole. Why? Kids’ feet have as many neuro-transmitters in their feet as in their hands. So the more kids’ feet can feel, the more messages go dashing to developing brains!

• Zero heel (explained above).

• Fully connected to their feet with no gripping. Why? Gripping footwear such as flip flops curls some toe bones up and some down.

I intend to do a comprehensive list of kids’ barefoot brands (as well as adults of course). But for now, check out the UK website Happy Little Soles for a great selection to get you started.

I hope this was helpful guys! See you next week!

P.S. Here’s a nice idea we came up with to create some interest and wonder, feel free to print out and bring with you on walks.

The post How I Get My Kids to Walk Long Distances… or Walk at all! appeared first on Bare Soled Girl.