This year, we’re oversimplifying our life in an effort to stay on top of the crazy school madness before it even begins! So in that vein, we emptied out our closets instead of cramming them full of new school clothes, and what happened is we, magically, discovered exactly what we need for school and the next 9 months of life. It turns out, all my son needs to get through school and swim and everything inbetween was three pair of shoes: a pair of shoes for church, a pair for school, and a pair of flippy sandals for swim team practice.
It’s a variation on the theme my mom played every year: simplicity, basic needs. My mother took all 8 of her children shopping the week before school to pick up two pair of shoes each: a pair for church and a pair for school. And I have to be honest, I kind of like it. It keeps things basic and full of purpose and easy to maintain. It was also a fun way to shop with my 10-year-old for whom shopping isn’t usually his favorite activity. It forced him to really think about a pair of shoes he could wear to school all day every day, hopefully for an entire year. It forced us to think about the versatility of one pair of shoes, and it was a bit nostalgic in advance for me, as I thought about how each pair of shoes I wore for each grade of school spoke to whatever stage of life I was living. 5th grade was all about high-top Converse. 10th grade was all about heavy, thick soled, black grunge boots. Senior year was Mary Janes and thick, black tights.
It’s so fun to anticipate the kind of experiences my son will have in 5th grade this year, with his new shoes, with his new teacher and new friends, and neither of us can wait for it to start.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Payless via RhythmOne. The opinions and text are all mine.
Allison
Hello there! I'm Allison Czarnecki, founder + editor of Petit Elefant, a blog all about style on a budget for every part of your life: style / home / travel / family. I do a lot of how-to beauty + style tutorials, travel posts, easy recipes, home remodel projects, and cool DIY crafts you totally want to try. I'm super happily married (to a hot Polish immigrant) and am the mother of two kids, a daughter and son, all of whom are featured here on the regular. We live in the country but we're a little bit rock + roll. Welcome!
I feel like I should chime in that you should replace shoes about every 500 miles that you walk in them and for kids, that can happen surprisingly fast. I think you should expect to replace his shoes as early as every few months if he’s active.