Crocs and Birks and Sneaks...Oh My!

Today's topic is boys and footwear. You know, those 7 pound missiles teenage boys fling off their feet and leave for you to trip over in the hallway, doorway, under the table, etc., and then cry out, "Mom, have you seen my shoes?" 

Shoe shopping, alas, isn't the retail thrill for guys that is it for girls. We're not talking about stalking Manolos or cruising the Nordstroms sale rack here.  Both Jaws and Grumble, who are each over 6 feet tall,  have humongous slabs for feet. They wear 13.5 and 13 respectively and their slabs are still growing. I stay up nights worrying about this because style choices begin to fall off at size 13W, but my lads seem completely untroubled by this. Just keep them in Birks and Crocs and flip flops and Merrills and $85 sneakers and they are blissfully happy, the fools.

Have you noticed, by the way, that shoelaces are a thing of the past?  Even sneakers are elasticized. I know for a fact that Grumble doesn't know how to tie a shoelace and that Jaws only mastered it a few years ago. He does it the two-loops way.  [If either boy reads this I'm dead meat.]

However, teenage feet are on my mind because we have a ritual on the last day of school, which is today. When school gets out, we go get shoes. Shoeing my boys makes me indescribably happy. In the old days it was about taking them to the childrens' shoe store and getting lollipops and watching them take their practice walk in shiny new shoes. These days I take them to Abbadabbas, Atlanta's funky shoe emporium which overflows with Keene, Merrill, Teva,  Dansco, and other high end comfort shoe brands sold by salespeople sporting tatoos and noserings.

Here's what happens. My sons walk into Abbadabbas,  ask for the two or three brands they like, try them on, and in like 5 minutes they are happy ready to roll. Me? I am combing the sale rack, trying on orange climbing shoes and thinking that a pair of those cute Crocs "Mary Janes" in pink would make my life complete. Then, omigod, I see that Earth Shoes are back, and I wonder, "Gee, maybe I'll have less back pain if I start wearing negative heal shoes." This prompts a reverie about Fred Braun shoes. Do you think they'll ever bring back Fred Braun shoes?  I still dream about them.

My name is Nina and I am a shoe-aholic, and the mother of sons who don't understand. I have an embarrassing, Imelda-esque quantity of shoes. My personal theory about women and shoes is that we love 'em because while our dress and jeans size changes alarmingly, our shoe size (once we're done with birthing babies) stays about the same. I didn't need Carrie Bradshaw to teach me that there's nothing like a new pair of shoes to bring a whole new perspective to life. And then there's the matter of toe cleavage ... which I must admit, I find incredibly sexy, but which is apparently unknown to my boys. When I explained it they said, "Eeeuuuuwww."

Which is what I say when I see (or smell) their feet.

Where you really get burned with boys is on dress shoes.  Unless you're a stickler about appropriate footwear for church, synagogue, holidays and special occasions, or your kids go to a school that makes them wear closed-toe shoes, dress shoes are where you get soaked. I recently broke down and bought Grumble a pair of black leather shoes for his brother's graduation and his own Confirmation and it set me back over $100.00. If I'm lucky he'll wear them a total of five times and they probably won't even fit him in six months. 

Can I say one more thing about shoes?  And this is not a gender thing. I don't approve of wearing flip flops to your college or high school graduation. But at Jaws college graduation I saw literally hundreds of guys and girls wearing cap, gown and flip flops. Where are their manners?  Where are their mothers?  Where is the nearest DSW?

Crossposted at Mid-Century Modern Moms

Today's topic is boys and footwear. You know, those 7 pound missiles teenage boys fling off their feet and leave for you to trip over in the hallway, doorway, under the table, etc., and then cry out, "Mom, have you seen my shoes?" 

Shoe shopping, alas, isn't the retail thrill for guys that is it for girls. We're not talking about stalking Manolos or cruising the Nordstroms sale rack here.  Both Jaws and Grumble, who are each over 6 feet tall,  have humongous slabs for feet. They wear 13.5 and 13 respectively and their slabs are still growing. I stay up nights worrying about this because style choices begin to fall off at size 13W, but my lads seem completely untroubled by this. Just keep them in Birks and Crocs and flip flops and Merrills and $85 sneakers and they are blissfully happy, the fools.

Have you noticed, by the way, that shoelaces are a thing of the past?  Even sneakers are elasticized. I know for a fact that Grumble doesn't know how to tie a shoelace and that Jaws only mastered it a few years ago. He does it the two-loops way.  [If either boy reads this I'm dead meat.]

However, teenage feet are on my mind because we have a ritual on the last day of school, which is today. When school gets out, we go get shoes. Shoeing my boys makes me indescribably happy. In the old days it was about taking them to the childrens' shoe store and getting lollipops and watching them take their practice walk in shiny new shoes. These days I take them to Abbadabbas, Atlanta's funky shoe emporium which overflows with Keene, Merrill, Teva,  Dansco, and other high end comfort shoe brands sold by salespeople sporting tatoos and noserings.

Here's what happens. My sons walk into Abbadabbas,  ask for the two or three brands they like, try them on, and in like 5 minutes they are happy ready to roll. Me? I am combing the sale rack, trying on orange climbing shoes and thinking that a pair of those cute Crocs "Mary Janes" in pink would make my life complete. Then, omigod, I see that Earth Shoes are back, and I wonder, "Gee, maybe I'll have less back pain if I start wearing negative heal shoes." This prompts a reverie about Fred Braun shoes. Do you think they'll ever bring back Fred Braun shoes?  I still dream about them.

My name is Nina and I am a shoe-aholic, and the mother of sons who don't understand. I have an embarrassing, Imelda-esque quantity of shoes. My personal theory about women and shoes is that we love 'em because while our dress and jeans size changes alarmingly, our shoe size (once we're done with birthing babies) stays about the same. I didn't need Carrie Bradshaw to teach me that there's nothing like a new pair of shoes to bring a whole new perspective to life. And then there's the matter of toe cleavage ... which I must admit, I find incredibly sexy, but which is apparently unknown to my boys. When I explained it they said, "Eeeuuuuwww."

Which is what I say when I see (or smell) their feet.

Where you really get burned with boys is on dress shoes.  Unless you're a stickler about appropriate footwear for church, synagogue, holidays and special occasions, or your kids go to a school that makes them wear closed-toe shoes, dress shoes are where you get soaked. I recently broke down and bought Grumble a pair of black leather shoes for his brother's graduation and his own Confirmation and it set me back over $100.00. If I'm lucky he'll wear them a total of five times and they probably won't even fit him in six months. 

Can I say one more thing about shoes?  And this is not a gender thing. I don't approve of wearing flip flops to your college or high school graduation. But at Jaws college graduation I saw literally hundreds of guys and girls wearing cap, gown and flip flops. Where are their manners?  Where are their mothers?  Where is the nearest DSW?

Crossposted at Mid-Century Modern Moms

Comments

[Elisson]

Crocs: the perfect Yom Kippur shoe.

I daven Yom Kippur Musaf at our congregation, wearing my white yarmulke, kittel, tallit, and...my Crocs.

Oh, yeah. Pants, too. Definitely pants.

[chailife atlanta]

OMG!!!! Fred Braun....ah yes, I remember it well....let's see...two stores I frequented......34th between 5th and 6th and also, 8th St in the village. I wore Fred Brauns in high school!! Speaking of the village, do you remember Different Drummer, the jean store across the street from Fred Braun? I bought my Landlubber bellbottom jeans there and had a major crush on a salesperson who looked just like Mick Jagger. My friend and I would sit on the front steps of Different Drummer, praying that the Mick wannabe would come out and talk to us. Great memories!

[Jeanne M.]

Elisson, I know how you feel about those 'Fred Braun' shoes, but unfortunately I never got a chance to purchase any, because they seem to have "left the scene" as soon as it was my chance to get at least one pair.
I've also wondered if they will ever be back, and if any of the manufacturers family is still alive, and if they'd want to take up where he left off?
Some of the "best" shoes ever made. Thanks for the memories.

[Wildflower1417]

Fred Braun's, I loved those shoes. I had two pair, blue with burgandy rope trim, lace up on the side with what I would describe as a bubble toe and about a 1" sole. The other pair were black, the toes were like gumbies head and flat. I cannot describe the other feature of the shoe. I guess the blue were my favorite. Hah, yes they were.
I have been looking for the manufacturer for about 8 years off and on and cannot find any. It would be wonderful if the style came back out, why not everything else have.

[S. Lorraine]

Fred Braun's. I loved my Fred Braun's. considered too expensive by my parents, part of my summer job pay had to be set aside for them. And those shoes boxes were unlike any other. You had to have your Fred Braun box to tote your gym clothes-to school on Monday morning and back on Friday afternoon. They were a High school girls fashion requirement along with poorboy sweaters, A-line skirts, and knee socks, and a peacoat for the winter.

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[Noemi Carrero]

Fred Braun shoes = status in high school and if you used the shoebox to carry your books to school, you were really hip! OMG, they were the most comfortable shoes you could buy in NYC. I had a part-time job so I could buy my Fred Brauns. They were made of subtle leather and it was like walking on air.

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