I am a stickler for making sure my boys have decent shoes and that they fit well and for school shoes that has meant a mixture of Clarks and Startright and recently Geox, Doc Martians and Kickers. This has been fine with my boys, but for trainers, it has been another matter, until recently!

I have a real passion for shoes, but always remember my mum making sure that I had great fitted shoes as a child.  She insisted that I wore Clarks shoes until I was well into my teenage years and it is something that I am thankful for now as I don’t have unsightly bunions or any issues with my feet.  She drummed into me that it was key I looked after my feet and I do the same with my boys.  If you are shopping for kids shoes make sure you check for Clarks Voucher codes.

Why kids shoes are so important

1. Children feet take three times the stress of an adult’s foot due to their high activity levels and the amount of high impact things kids do such as jumping, hey when was the last time you jumped from the sixth stair at home?
2. Children’s feet are still growing. On average, a child will grow up to 12 sizes in just their first three years! So poor fitting shoes can compromise and swish their feet.
3. Arch support.  Now, this is a biggie for us as Mini has to wear inserts to help his arches as he has developed flat feet.  Children’s arches do not usually develop until puberty until then they often look like they don’t have an arch, but they have a little pad of fat that is the bodies natural arch support.
4. Children’s feet sweat a lot, yes really, about 2 to 3 times more than an adults! This is one reason why kids are known to wear down shoes faster than adults. Sweating in a shoe day after day (especially if they only have one pair of shoes) will wear on the soft leather lining on the inside of the shoe. After months, it will cause the actual structure of the shoe to break down.
5. Most foot issues in adults stem from ill-fitting shoes in childhood according to doctors.

Both of my boys are sports mad and with that comes wearing a certain brand of trainer or football boots and for the last 5 years or do I have really struggled to get them to deviate away Nike and Adidas.   When they were younger it wasn’t such an issue, they wore what I bought them and that was it, but once peer pressure and football pressure came into their lives it was a different story. All of the above are just as important in trainers, if not more important as stops and starts, running and jumping all put little feet under extra stress so getting the correct fit is perhaps even more important in trainers than in shoes.

Both the boys were sent a pair of Sprint Junior as part of Clarks’ celebration of the release of the Disney’s  Zootropolis and they have been on their feet since they got them.

These trainers are amazingly light and both boys couldn’t believe how comfortable they are.  Mini said they made him run much faster. They come with Clarks’ Air Spring FX technology which adds cushioning while the TPU welding on the eyelets, toe and heel adds a durable finish making them perfect for scooting.

As a Mum I love them as they are machine washable – yes you read that right, they can go in the washing machine.  Perfect for my noise with muck on boys.  They will also be ace for our holidays. They are also bang on trend with their mesh upper and neon flash and laces.  None of their mates thought they were Clarks and at 11 and 10 it is important what your friends think.

So according to the boys Clarks is still cool for kids and they love these Sprint Junior trainers.  They have really put them to the test recently at the climbing park and out running and playing.