Announcing: Girls Shoes Reviews

Shoes for Girls and Young Women

As every parent knows, keeping kids in clothing and shoes takes a big bite out of your total budget. With clothes, you can save by using hand-me-downs and shopping the consignment, thrift and discount stores. However, when it comes to your girl's shoes, you've got to be a bit more careful.

Whereas boy's shoes tend to be plain – and shaped like the child's foot – girl's shoes, especially the dressy styles, come with pointy toes, which begin to narrow at the base of the big toe.

Poorly fitting shoes can cause a lot of problems for those quickly growing bones, which can show up years later in bunions, hammertoes and other painful and needless bone deformations, which may require surgery to correct. Here we've got some guidelines on how to be sure your girl doesn't end up with bone problems by the time she's in her teens. The last thing you need is to add this to her teenage years.

Nowadays, a lot of people talk about all the body image issues that young women face. Women, we are told, are under greater pressure to conform to society's standards than men are. They have to have the right weight wear the right clothes, and maintain the right look at all times. Still, although this is terrible in many ways, it does have a good side to it.

Women's clothes are simply more interesting than mens. Women have more options and more variety in their choices than men do by far. Girls shoes are a great example of this.

Girls Shoes to Fit How You Feel Today

I work in a store selling girls shoes – the same footwear store that I've worked in for the past 10 years. In that time, I have learned a lot about Female foot attire. Our girls shoe store is not a specialty store. On the contrary, we are more of a warehouse. We stock everything from girls tennis shoes to high fashion boots too high heeled shoes. I always sort of envy the girls shopping here. There are girls shoes that exist for every possible mood.

The best time to learn about shoes for teen girls is before you're in the thick of buying. Wise women will keep reading to earn some valuable shoe tips while the info is still available in fashion articles like this one.

If you are feeling casual, you can get girls slippers. If you're feeling sporty, you can get athletic shoes. If you are feeling dressy and formal, you have a huge range of choices. You can get pumps, platform shoes, classic loafers designed and styled after mens shoes, and many other kinds of mens footwear.

Of course, on the other side of that, there are some rigorous standards of girls shoes. Most men really only need to own two pairs of shoes. Although it is nice to own more, you can get by with only two pairs. You need a nice pair, and a casual pair. That is it.

With girls shoes, however, things are much different. You need to be able to accessorize. Girls cannot get by with just gym shoes and one set of formal shoes. They need different kinds of shoes for every occasion. Even the teenage girls I know who don't like to spend time in girls shoe stores – the ones that dress informally and rarely ever put on makeup – own at least four or five pairs of shoes. They just can't get away with less.

Still, when I see the amount of fun that women have picking out shoes, I can't help but feel a twinge of jealousy. After all, shoe shopping has never really been fun for guys. It is just something that you have to do every once in a while before your sneakers wear out.

More Tips for Buying Shoes for Your Daughter

Before you ever begin to check out shoe styles, ask the shoe salesperson to use a shoe fitting device (all shoe stores have one) to determine the correct width and length of your child's foot. Doing this step before starting to make selections helps avoid a disappointed child who finds the 'perfect' shoe, her heart's desire, only to discover it's not available in her size. After her feet have been measured, ask the salesperson to show you several styles of the type of girl's shoes you need, be it tennis, boots or dress shoes. If the shoes will be worn with socks, have your girl wear, or bring a pair of socks suited to the shoe. The socks will make a considerable difference in the fit of the shoe!

Always try on both shops before testing for a good fit. It's common for people to have one foot to be just a tad larger than the other, usually averaging about a ¼ inch difference between the two. You want to go with the shoe size that fits the larger foot.

Shopping for girl's shoes can be a little more difficult than with boys. Perhaps girls are just born with fashion in their genes and shoe manufacturers know that. Girl's shoes come with an array of decorations and 'features' not found on boy's shoes, such as fashion straps, bows, little heels and those pointy toes, making the selection process more exciting – and longer.

Be prepared to be firm on certain 'features', such as pumps and pointy toes. Explain that those pointy toes squish those rapidly growing bones – and that they're quite uncomfortable when worn for even a couple of hours. As for pump, while they may look cute, they can also contribute to a misaligned spine.

As proof, offer a reminder of old Aunt May and her long standing back pain. ”You don't want that sort of condition at your age, do you!” The only viable case for the pointed toe or short pump might be when the shoes will rarely be worn for limited periods of time.

Just a couple of hours in such a shoe will probably change your child's mind on the merits of this type of girl's shoes. When trying on the shoes, have your girl stand up straight. Feel the width across the ball of the foot to be sure it's not too tight. Now have the child walk several feet away, so you can observe the heel portion.

Her heel should not come up as she walks – this type of fit results in painful blisters. If the shoe fits well in every other way, you still have two alternatives: ask if the store carries inserts for the heel, or if that shoe comes in a narrower heel size.

Following these guidelines, you and your girl can both be happy. If you can't find a pair of girl's shoes that fit – and passes the fashion test, be willing to go to another shoe store. Establishing the shoe shopping rules, right up front, makes subsequent shoe shopping easier. Remember, you'll be doing this again in about three months!

Bob Pardue