Wearing socks with bikes???

[Daisy]

Do you MAKE your children wear shoes and socks when they ride their bike or can they wear sandals, flip-flops, etc? I just cannot understand why my Dh is turning this into ALAMO with our 8yo DD. She despises shoes of any kind. I'm thinking wearing sandals is good enough. Afterall in CA, we have sandal weather a good 9 months out of the year. He is worried about her poor little toes but man, I survived plenty of toe scrapes on my bike. Up to this point, I have told my DD she must obey (and I will continue to say that),but I'd like to broach the subject in private with my DH. He has a tendency to be "over-protective", IMO. I just wanted to see what the majority of you do before I even bother to talk to him about it.

[Janet in WA]

Do you MAKE your children wear shoes and socks when they ride their bike or can they wear sandals, flip-flops, etc? .No. I can see some reasoning for shoes, but socks?

[Carol in Cal.]

I have had a lot of scraped toes bike riding, but the source of my rule is that one time when my big toe was turned completely UNDER the pedal, in a flip flop, and dragged along; deeply scraping the flesh off of the top knuckles and grinding street dirt into the wound. That was SO nasty.

[elegantlion]

Tennis shoes and helmets are required here. Stems from an ad about motorcycle safety I saw years ago. Also dh is a big safety nut.

[~Tara~]

Shoes yes. Closed toed shoes. Whether they wear socks with those shoes, well, guess that's up to personal preference. But I cannot fathom wearing tennis shoes without socks, myself, nor for my children. *ew*

But definitely shoes that actually cover the feet!

Something with grip. Something that offers protection. Something that would stay on while running. I don't dig that whole slipping a pedal and scraping up the tops/knuckles of toes idea :shudder:

[True Blue]

We require closed-toe shoes but not socks. Toes can be amputated from the tire spokes.

[Elisabeth in IL]

I allow sandles but not flip flops. So far it seems that I'm in the minority. Of course this is just around the block or in front of our house, if they go into the forest preserve or on a longer ride with dad then they need to wear socks and shoes.

[Daisy]

Wow, I guess I'm in the minority. I rode my bike totally barefoot as a kid. I hated shoes and frankly, still do. I beat the kids in the neighbor at foot races, BAREFOOT. I guess I just figure, either way, it won't kill her.

[Jan in SC]

Try crocs, or keen sandals. My kids love both and their feet get covered at the same time!

[Miss Peregrine]

I don't require shoes of any kind. They usually choose to wear them--reg. shoes or flip flops, except DS. The neighbors ask if it is a special occasion when they see him wearing shoes. :lol:

[kaylk in tx]

when my 2nd dd was 5th grade, she broke a bone in her foot when it slipped off the pedal and into the spokes....

[Janet in WA]

But I cannot fathom wearing tennis shoes without socks, myself, nor for my children. *ew*You obviously haven't lived in Florida or California.

[EarleneW]

We do require tennis shoes to ride their bikes.

[Janet in WA]

Wow, I guess I'm in the minority. I rode my bike totally barefoot as a kid. I hated shoes and frankly, still do. I beat the kids in the neighbor at foot races, BAREFOOT. I guess I just figure, either way, it won't kill her.We did too. We lived barefoot every minute that the weather was warm enough. But I did have a friend who lost her big toe in the spokes of a bicycle while riding barefoot. However, she was the passenger on the back of a bicycle "driven" by another child, so her foot was nearer the spokes than it would have been if she were piloting the bike herself.

[Amy in NH]

I'm with Elisabeth.

In an ideal world I'd require shoes, but realistically I require at least sandals. Bike riding is usually not one of those things where they are in the house and decide, "I think I'll go for a bike ride." It is an outside playing, gotta-jump-on-the-bike-and-race-across-the-yard-before-dropping-it activity most of the time. I do require helmets, though. They just leave the helmets on the handlebars so they always have quick access when they jump on.

If they are going for a long ride, especially on pavement, then they'd wear shoes & socks.

We don't own flip-flops (ugh!) or crocs (blech!).

[strider]

First, I let my kids wear whatever footwear they want for most riding.

Second, I am personally often frustrated when my dh sees me as overprotective and argues about simple safety measures. Your dh does have a point--it IS safer. Why argue him down? It's a reasonable rule, even if you or I wouldn't have thought of it. It may not be strictly necessary, but it's not a bad idea either.

Bottom line--go with what your dh prefers.

[Caroline]

We require full shoes and a helmet for bike riding.

[KristineIN]

Yes, dh requires it and it's not something that I'm going to fuss over. Shoes & socks are a must here. Now helmets.....ahh I'm not as strict with those.

Kristine

[wagnfun]

We require closed-toe shoes but not socks. Toes can be amputated from the tire spokes.


yep yep.. :iagree: Happened last summer to my daughters friend and he was 16 & barefoot!!
he require helmets & closed toed shoes, socks optional.. and yes we are in California :D

[Lorna in the boonies]

For my kids, tennis shoes and helmets are not optional when biking. I've never specified that they have to wear socks on a bike, but they always have, just because they wear socks with their tennis shoes.

I will tell you that I take an enormous amount of flak for insisting on helmets. I'm the only one who thinks it's necessary (well, along with the 6 year old, who isn't old enough to question it yet). Dh just rolls his eyes when the kids aren't looking and allows me to go on being overprotective.;)

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

Do you MAKE your children wear shoes and socks when they ride their bike or can they wear sandals, flip-flops, etc? I just cannot understand why my Dh is turning this into ALAMO with our 8yo DD. She despises shoes of any kind. I'm thinking wearing sandals is good enough. Afterall in CA, we have sandal weather a good 9 months out of the year. He is worried about her poor little toes but man, I survived plenty of toe scrapes on my bike. Up to this point, I have told my DD she must obey (and I will continue to say that),but I'd like to broach the subject in private with my DH. He has a tendency to be "over-protective", IMO. I just wanted to see what the majority of you do before I even bother to talk to him about it.

For safety issues, whichever one of us feels most strongly about the most conservative option wins.

[chickenpatty]

For riding around in our yard and long gravel driveway, I don't require shoes or socks. If we go on pavement (which we rarely do - we live in the country where the roads are tiny), everyone must have shoes.

[Perry]

Shoes and helmets here. No sandals. Socks are optional. It's really not that much of a hardship to wear shoes and they can prevent a very unpleasant injury.

[dirty ethel rackham]

Closed toed shoes and helmets required here. I had a nasty accident with sandals and a bicycle when I was a kid. A rather interesting scar to show for it:|

We are probably one of the only families that require them in our neighborhood, but then, our kids are the youngest in the neighborhood. We did convince one mom to start wearing a helmet after she met a woman with permanent brain damage from a head injury. They have to hire help to take care of her and the kids.

[mommybee]

Wow, I guess I'm in the minority. I rode my bike totally barefoot as a kid. I hated shoes and frankly, still do. I beat the kids in the neighbor at foot races, BAREFOOT. I guess I just figure, either way, it won't kill her.

Same here Daisy. I grew up in SoCal and didn't even wear any kind of shoe for the entire summer, but for my boys I feel it's safer to wear shoes.

I think if I still lived by the beach I probably wouldn't care, but I live in a much hotter place now and am not in the habit of going barefoot anymore.
We just don't do that around here, but back home I loved being barefoot and would have never put on shoes for biking.

So I guess I'm not much help. My mom never made me and I never had any trouble, but I can see the why it's safer to wear shoes and so that's our rule.

[WTMindy]

For safety issues, whichever one of us feels most strongly about the most conservative option wins.

Yup, us too!

[Jenstet]

I never required shoes but I think I will now. Toe amputation does not sound nice. We have a rocky driveway so they tend to wear shoes only when they are playing with riding things. They never wear shoes during the summer though for backyard play. Their feet are filthy every night.
My requirements for summer are underwear and if you pee outside make sure your back is facing the neighbors.