Rockin’ the Preschoolians
This post was originally written in mid-2007. Since then I have received an unsolicited complaint about their customer service from another mom. I have not been able to confirm this issue. Please do some online research before ordering.
I was going to start my talking about how my family calls me Imelda Marcos because I have so many shoes, but then I realized that might be an outdated reference. So, yeah, I have lots of shoes. When I found out I was doing a review of Preschoolians, a new shoe line for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, I was giddy. My daughter, Charlotte, doesn’t quite have the same passion for shoes as I have (she is 3 and a half), but I love shoes in her behalf.
My husband doesn’t understand how a little kid would need more than one or two pairs of shoes. One or two?! A kid who is walking needs a pair to run around in, one for dressy occasions, one for water or sand, rubber boots for when it rains, and sandals for summer, at a minimum. My poor poor spouse, I think he thought he wouldn’t have to deal with a pile of shoes for the child until she was at least 13. He also never saw the website for Preschoolians. Oh my god. You can pick from a huge selection of pre-styled shoes with a huge selection of purposes for different ages. There are shoes for crawling, new walkers, runners, Mary Janes for girls. A lot of detail and research has been put into making Preschoolian shoes. From their own website:
Pediatricians agree. Barefoot is Best for foot development. Unfortunately, keeping your baby’s feet warm, clean and protected from sharp objects is equally important. With these two thoughts in mind, we have developed the most flexible, comfortable, well-fitting shoes for every stage of your child’s developmental period.
Without the insoles, the sole of the shoe is clear, which means you can see exactly where your child’s foot is inside their groovy shoes, providing a great fit. I mean Charlotte might shriek if her shoes pinch or rub, but she isn’t great at verbalizing where exactly her footwear is bothering her. This is worse still for younger children who are not verbal yet. They also provide three different insoles for you little one; narrow, medium, and wide. I have never seen an innovation like that. They are also machine wash- and dry-able.
Honestly though, I love the shoes, I love the website, but by far the coolest thing is designing your, I mean your child’s, own shoe. You can pick the colors for all parts of the shoe; uppers, sides, tops, laces, straps, depending on the shoe style. I spent an ungodly amount of time on the site and soon as I was sent the url. This would actually be a great activity for you to do with your child as a fun new school year thing. They could help you pick the colors to match their knapsack or their favorite action figure. The sizes only go up to 10 and I would love to see them expand that. I think most kids (ok, parents too), would LOVE to pick out colors and styles to make their shoes exactly how they want them.
My other quibble, besides the sizes not going large enough was the fit at the heel of the Mary Janes we got for Charlotte. The padded area around the heel made the shoes a little difficult to get on and she was not too pleased with the fiddling and pushing required to get them on so she could jump on the couch in her underpants. We were trying them on in bare feet, and perhaps a sock would have made the process easier. The leather is very soft and will probably give, but initially they were a bit “sticky” to push on an uncooperative preschoolian.
If I could rate these shoes out of, lets say 5, they would get a 4.78 and a 4 from the Russian Judge.
Go ahead, visit Preschoolians.
You can follow JenB’s shoe escapades, and much more, at JenandTonic.
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