Shoes: On or Off?

It's winter for real up here in the Great White (and frigid - they leave that part out) North and leaving one's footwear at the door is pretty much a given. There are few exceptions to the rule, but no one seems to give it a second thought because mopping up slush, sand and the grit of de-icers is something everyone prefers to keep to a minimum. Few things will earn a person the hairy eyeball stare of death faster than ignoring the pile of boots and flouncing into a footwear free zone in boots dripping with winter road sludge.

I am a shoe free person myself. I don't wear them unless I have to. I blame shoes actually for my aching arches and gnarly looking toes. But back in Iowa, where I lived for most of my life, shoes never came off. Iowans believed in doormats, vacuums and brooms. The idea that leaving dirty shoes at the door keeps common areas cleaner was laughable and made no sense to anyone at all even in homes where babies and young children spent most of the day playing on the floor. 

My father rolled his eyes when I began doffing my shoes and insisting that others do so when I first became a home-owner, but I was the odd child, being shoeless-ly out of step was in character for me. I followed protocol in the homes of others when there wasn't a choice, but I figured that others could extend the same courtesy to me.

So, imagine my delight then when I moved up to Canada and discovered people just like me - shoeless without shame.

Some Americans find the Canadian way of leaving shoes at the door absurd and balk - sometimes not silently - but I found it sensible. As a teacher, I loathed the winter months of wet, slippery hallways and constantly dealing with puddles under desks and gritty piles of evil goo everywhere, so when I discovered that my daughter's school insisted on indoor and outdoor footwear, I was quite impressed. Shoe/boot racks line each entry point and kids keep a clean pair of runners in their lockers. The times I've needed to drop in on a wintry or rainy day during the school year, I doff my shoes or boots at the door and pad about in my socks confident in the knowledge that I won't accidentally step in a wet spot.

Shoes are left by the door at the yoga studio regardless of the time of year. Street grit and floor exercise are a bad fit. At the gym, there is a place for wet footwear in the locker room which means the lobby is a grubby mess sometimes, but the fitness area and the track are clean.

Public areas like malls and restaurants naturally don't require shoelessness, but smaller spaces and businesses will state a preference as you enter and provide mats or boot storage as needed.

I'm not sure why people get so bent about private homes that choose to be shoe-free. I think it's good manners to comply without sneering, and I have never encountered anyone who's insisted on bare tootsies if a guest has a medical reason for needing footwear or is just too emotionally fragile to deal with the horror.

My next younger sister is foot squeamish. She has this thing about long toes that actually provokes her gag reflex. Her home is a footwear zone, but she will avert her eyes if a guest (like me) chooses to step out and expose herself. Although I don't understand those with aesthetic aversions, I am not ignorant of the hazards of going without shoes. Plantar warts and fungus are cited as reasons to remain clad, but those things are really more common in locker rooms and showers - moister climates than the hardwood in my living room or most people's carpeted areas. I don't believe at all that a person can catch toe fungus unless shoe sharing is involved, and it amazes me that people will trust their feet to strangers at the mall giving pedicures but shrink from being stocking footed in the homes of their family and friends. And please don't get me started on cat people who think bare feet are less hygienic than the litter stained paws of kitties.

Removing shoes upon request, especially when wet or sloppy conditions prevail, is just the polite thing to do and even our oldest daughter's dog knows to lie on the rug by the door until his paws dry. 

A 50 Something Mom's original post by Ann Bibby of anniegirl1138 and Care2 Education Blog.