17 Month Old Won't Keep His Shoes On!!!

Updated on December 06, 2010
A.V. asks from Keithville, LA
13 answers

My 17 month old Preston is driving my husband and I crazy! As soon as we put him in the car to take him somewhere he's got his socks and shoes off before we even get out of our neighborhood! This is becoming such an annoyance because whenever we get to our destination, we have to put them back on again so we end up putting his shoes /socks back on numerous times during outings . He does this EVERY time and even tries to take them off in the store or wherever. Any tips to get him to leave his feet covered???

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So What Happened?

I would just like to respond to the poster who suggested I hit Preston with a switch because he wont keep his shoes on, Are you serious???? I would never physically hit a baby with a switch for any reason much less to "keep him out of hell" like you said. Thanks but no thanks lady. I'll keep battling with the shoe issue before I take a switch to a little baby

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C.S.

answers from Las Vegas on

Wow, someone took this way far...in any event, I think it is a phase they go through. Right about the same age, my daughter did this too. As well, a good friend had a daughter who would open the window and throw one shoe out the window!! Boy was she annoyed. They have both grown out of it.

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J.U.

answers from Norfolk on

Kids just don't feel the temperature like we do.
Keep a blanket in the car.
Carry some socks around with you so when you go to get out of the car you can slip them on and the wind won't brother him.
If he wants to walk around the store...he will need shoes so he will start to understand once he is walking more.

Your doing a great job. Keep it up.

2 moms found this helpful

A.F.

answers from Miami on

Hi A. :-)

So Preston continues to be an energetic inquisitive young boy.. good for him! I agree with Suz.. keep the shoes off and just as you are taking him out of the car seat, put the socks and shoes on. I'm not a fan of sandals, but it might be easier to purchase those when you are out in the store so you can put them back on easily. Your son is exploring the world with a very health engagement of his 5 senses and he LOVES the feeling of the world under his feet.. keep providing as many opportunities for him to feel as many different feelings as he can, under his feet, bare.. around the house, in the backyard, at the beach... and he will begin to learn to associate shoes with safety, when necessary :-) He is actually following the instincts of his bodymind ... we sure aren't born with shoes on.. hehehe.

But other than safety, let him go as bare as he can, I can see him as a confident young man, happy and safe in the world you have provided :-0
hugs,
A. R.N., Energy Medicine Practitioner

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R.M.

answers from Topeka on

I agree with all of the Moms, except for the one recommending the switch...my goodness...I am grateful to see that YOU don't agree with that idea either!!
Keep an extra pair of socks with you...put those on just as you lift him out of his carseat and be patient..."this too shall pass"!!

1 mom found this helpful

H.X.

answers from Los Angeles on

I laugh a little. Mine is now three, won't keep shoes on, or clothes for that matter, and at times we even struggle to keep a diaper or panties on. My only suggestion is to get the most comfortable shoes out there. I've had good luck with PediPeds. Otherwise my advice to you is; let it go. Accept that you will constantly need to put his shoes back on and don't frustrate yourselves by trying to keep things just so. One day he will borrow your can and send it into a ditch and you'll wish for the frustrations of toddler-hood.

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K.I.

answers from Oklahoma City on

OMG! I can't believe someone really think that hitting a child will keep him out of hell.....
well my 7 years old girl still doing the same as soon she gets in the car she will take them off , the good thing is she can get them on back again when I say "we are almost there " and my 15 months old ..she's always trying maybe she succed with one, sometimes both...I bought shoes with velcro is more difficult to take them off and I still telling her all the time ""we do not take our shoes off when we are out of the house" or maybe: no, no ,no and put them back on, also I start leaving her shoes on all day (but nap time) in the house so she gets use to wear them all the time....and after 5 or 6 pm I let her be bare foot or on her socks...just keep working with him, maybe if you go to someplace that he really like maybe for ice cream or a playgroung when you get there tell him oh oh no shoes no getting down the car and or something like this...main thing YOU ARE NOT ALONE .
best wishes!!

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S.M.

answers from Washington DC on

Most toddlers love to do this. Just do what needs to be done - "When we go out we must wear shoes to keep our feet warm and safe." And repeat every time. Don't get into a battle in the car when you are driving, becaus you can't put them on, so it becomes a game of "Mommy is yelling about the shoes while I take them off, hee hee hee." Just be consistent. It is a game that won't last forever.

However, my daughter does have a preference for one pair of shoes. I played the card of "If you take off your shoes (red sparkly ones), then I am keeping them and putting on your sneakers." That worked!!

DIstraction with other toys like a button/sipper book or small toys or a doll with his own shoes isn't a bad idea either.

And as an aside - Please don't hit hit your child. I have lovely, onedient, smart, kind, and verbal children who have never been hit. Kids who are out of control today is from lack of discipline and rules and consistency and sturcture, not lack of hitting. And even if you are a believe in spanking, it is completely inappropriate to hit a baby who has basically just entered todldlerhood. And it is an especially offensive notion to me to hit a child for somehting I remember fondly as one of the cuter, albeit at the moment frustrating, things my daugheters did. Is taking off his shoes reallly such a big awful deal? If is part of demonstrating creativity, independence, exploration. Yeah, it's a pain in the neck, but it doesn't make your baby a bad kid!

1 mom found this helpful
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S.O.

answers from Chicago on

We always bought hightops. They have so many cute ones these days.

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R.K.

answers from Boston on

My little guy used to wear his robeez everywhere because he could not take them off no matter how hard he tried. Also at a year in half I had a one piece fleece snow suit (with feet) that I put him so I didn't have to worry about him pulling his socks off because he could not get to them.

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L.R.

answers from Dallas on

Try getting the hightop baby shoes. I saw them at stride rite. That way he can't get them off. Otherwise just let him go barefoot when you can. My older son went through the same thing and it became a big game to him. I got shoes that he couldn't get off and it stopped. He still takes off his shoes the minute he gets home though.

M.3.

answers from St. Louis on

Ugh!! My son does this too!! Hes 27 months. I dont have much advice on how to keep them on, but I dont even attempt to put them on until we reach our final destination. It doesnt matter what kind of shoes either, he can still get them off! Just last week at Target, while I was trying to pay, he took his shoes and socks off and chucked them. OY!!

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O.S.

answers from Birmingham on

That is terribly frustrating and we went through it with one of ours. It was a phase that passed (yea!). A man in our office went through a spell with their daughter .. they would get her all dressed and ready to go to school or out to dinner only to find her back in her bedroom with all of her clothes being pulled off. She was the cutest little two year old that loved to run around in the buff. Talk about them getting frustrated, especially when they were trying to get out the door in the morning for work/daycare. If they didn't stay with her until leaving, clothes off! We loved to hear his stories. That phased passed too!

S.T.

answers from Washington DC on

snork! i was just the other day looking at pics of my 19yo when he was a baby, busily pulling his socks off. he was my Barefoot Bernie.
no tips. let him go barefoot when he can and resign yourself when you have to keep 'em on.
i do NOT agree with another poster that hitting him with a switch will work, or that hell is an option for a tiny who doesn't like shoes, fer cryin' in a bucket.
@@
khairete
S.

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