Backstory: I have learned that sometimes you just have to buy a nice pair of shoes for your kiddo because they simply last longer…
I bought my eight year old a very nice, very expensive pair of Nike, all leather basketball shoes about a year ago. Since then, I’ve replaced the shoelaces 5x, hand washed the insole, vacuumed them out of sand and wood chips innumerable times. I have three to four hours into these shoes minimum, plus the exorbitant amount of money I spent on them.
Yesterday, we were prepping for a rafting trip down the salt river and trying to find a pair of water shoes for him. I found out that he’s grown an entire size.
I said, “I see that your shoes are too small, and I will talk to your daddy about buying you new ones. We will have to put these Nikes away for when your six year old brother grows into them. He’s size 13 now, and those are a whole size bigger–it’s called size one. You can still wear them tomorrow, it’s only a half day of school and the last day.”
He answered, “Will you buy me the same ones as [six year old] has?”
Me, “I have to talk to your daddy, I’ve already spent the shoe budget this month on his shoes.”
This morning, it was time to get to the bus for my boys, and I’m telling them to put their socks on and go. And my oldest, the eight year old, says to me, “Mom I don’t have any shoes.”
I answered, “What?! How is that possible, where are your Nikes?”
He answered snarkily, “Mom. You told me. To throw them away. And so. I did.”
Horrified, my heart sank. I knew the trash had been put into the bin and picked up already. I ran around looking in the can for the all leather Nike shoes I had worked so hard to maintain. He put on some broken sandals, and left for school. I ran out to the street and found an empty trashcan.
Yes, my son threw away a perfectly nice pair of Nikes that are now in the landfill. They had special laces that had to be installed with pliers so he didn’t have to tie them. All gone. I cried. Not even going to lie about that.
Update: since then, I have replaced the shoes twice. He’s now in a bargain basement pair from the local sports store that cost me nearly nothing. His new Nikes are waiting on the shelf for him to grow into. He won’t make that mistake twice.
[In addition to being mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend, etc., J. Credence is a Google Marketing Expert, owning Mavenite.Media, of which she is director of Media and Marketing. With her husband, she parents three young kids with special needs, held together thanks primarily to Jesus, by being Bible believing Jesus Followers, and a dash of grit on both their parts. Contact: J.Credence@mavenite.media]
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