Written by an Occupational Therapist and mom — and co-founder of Common Tread.
"Those shoes don't have enough support."
If you've put your toddler in barefoot shoes, you've probably heard this — from a grandparent, a shoe-store fitter, maybe even a well-meaning friend. The belief that new walkers need stiff, structured, "supportive" shoes runs deep. It was the standard advice for decades.
But here's the thing: it was advice, not evidence. When researchers actually studied how children's feet develop, they found something close to the opposite. In this article, I'll walk you through what the peer-reviewed research says about barefoot shoes vs. regular shoes for toddlers, where the "ankle support" myth came from, and the rare cases where structured footwear genuinely is the right call.
Do Toddlers Need Supportive Shoes? The Short Answer
For a typically developing toddler, no. The primary purpose of a toddler's shoe is protection — from hot pavement, sharp gravel, splinters — not correction or support. That's not a fringe barefoot-community opinion; it's the position of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which notes that in the early months, babies' feet develop best when they're not confined in shoes, and that once walking outdoors begins, children need shoes for protection with comfortable, nonskid soles.
A healthy toddler's foot doesn't need to be held up. It needs to work — to grip, splay, flex, and feel the ground. Every wobble and micro-correction a new walker makes is strength training for the 26 bones, 30+ joints, and dozens of muscles in each developing foot. A shoe that does that stabilizing work for the foot takes away the very practice the foot needs.
Where the "Ankle Support" Myth Came From
If stiff shoes aren't supported by the evidence, why did everyone's pediatrician recommend them in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s?
Partly, it was intuition. A wobbly baby looks like it needs bracing, the same way a sapling gets staked. Partly, it was the era's medical model, which treated the very normal flat-footed, wide-stanced toddler gait as a problem to be corrected with hardware — rigid heel counters, arch inserts, high-top leather boots.
What changed is that researchers started measuring. And when they compared children who grew up in stiff footwear against children who grew up barefoot or in minimal footwear, the "corrective" shoes didn't look so corrective.
What the Research Actually Shows
1. Children who grow up in shoes have more flat feet, not fewer
The landmark study here is Rao and Joseph's 1992 survey of 2,300 children in India, published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. Because footwear habits varied widely, the researchers could compare shod and habitually barefoot children directly. The result: flat foot appeared in 8.6% of children who wore shoes versus 2.8% of children who didn't — and it was most common in kids who wore closed-toe shoes, less common in sandal-wearers, and least common in barefoot children. The authors concluded that shoe-wearing in early childhood appeared detrimental to the development of a normal arch.
Read that again: the very structure marketed as "arch support" was associated with weaker arches. Arches are built by muscles doing work, and a shoe that props the arch up relieves those muscles of their job — during the exact window (roughly ages 2–6) when the arch is forming.
2. Stiff shoes measurably change how toddlers walk
A 2008 study in Gait & Posture by Wolf and colleagues used motion analysis to compare children walking barefoot, in conventional shoes, and in flexible shoes. Conventional shoes restricted natural foot motion — reducing the foot's ability to flex and shorten as it does barefoot — while flexible footwear allowed movement much closer to the barefoot pattern. The authors argued that children's shoe design should be based on the barefoot model.
More recently, a 2022 study in PLoS ONE examined this in toddlers specifically, comparing how barefoot shoes and conventional shoes affect foot and gait characteristics during the first years of independent walking — the developmental window where footwear choices arguably matter most.
3. Habitually barefoot kids develop stronger, better-formed feet
A large 2017 study in Scientific Reports compared hundreds of habitually barefoot and habitually shod children and adolescents and found that growing up barefoot influences foot and arch development, with barefoot-raised children showing differences in arch formation and foot morphology. And a 2023 systematic scoping review pulling together the research on children's footwear and gait development reinforces the same broad picture: less restrictive footwear is associated with more natural foot function.
4. Strong feet come from use — not from equipment
This is the principle underneath all of the findings above, and it's the same one we apply everywhere else in child development. We don't put neck braces on babies learning to hold their heads up. Balance, proprioception (the body's sense of where it is in space), and foot strength develop through feedback and practice. Thick, cushioned, rigid soles mute the ground feedback a toddler's nervous system is hungry for; thin, flexible soles preserve it. I've written more about this developmental window in When Do Babies Need Shoes? An Occupational Therapist's Guide.
Barefoot Shoes vs. Regular Shoes for Toddlers: Side by Side
| Conventional "supportive" shoe | Barefoot shoe | |
|---|---|---|
| Sole | Thick, cushioned, stiff | Thin, flexible — bends and twists with the foot |
| Heel | Raised heel, even in kids' sizes | Zero drop (heel and toes level, like a bare foot) |
| Toe box | Tapered, narrows toward the front | Wide — lets toes splay for balance |
| Arch | Built-in "support" doing the arch's job | Nothing — the foot's own muscles do the work |
| Ground feel | Muted | Preserved — rich sensory feedback |
| What it trains | The shoe | The foot |
If you want to test your child's current shoes, try this: hold the shoe at both ends and bend it. If it only flexes at a stiff crease near the toe — or barely flexes at all — it's fighting your toddler's foot on every step. A shoe built for natural movement should roll up and twist easily, the way our Evergreen barefoot shoe does.
Are Barefoot Shoes Good for Kids? What I Tell Parents as an OT
Yes — for typically developing children, the research supports minimal, foot-shaped footwear, and it matches what I see clinically and what the broader pediatric literature suggests. But I want to be honest with you about two things, because trust matters more to me than a sale.
First, the research is strong but not finished. Most studies are observational or short-term; long-term randomized trials in toddlers are hard to run. What we can say confidently is that the old claim — that healthy toddlers need stiff, supportive shoes — has no good evidence behind it, while the barefoot-development side has a growing body of evidence for it. When one option matches how the foot evolved to work and the other is a mid-century retail convention, the burden of proof sits with the stiff shoe.
Second, some children genuinely do need supportive or corrective footwear. If your child has a diagnosed condition — cerebral palsy, significant hypotonia, structural (rigid) flat foot, toe-walking that persists past age two, or anything your pediatrician, physical therapist, or pediatric orthopedist is monitoring — follow your specialist's guidance. Prescribed orthotics and supportive footwear exist for real reasons. Barefoot shoes are the evidence-aligned default for typically developing feet, not a replacement for medical care. If you're ever unsure whether your child's gait is typical, ask your pediatrician — that's exactly what well-child visits are for.
How to Transition a Toddler to Barefoot Shoes
The good news: toddlers barely need a transition. Unlike adults, whose feet have adapted to decades of conventional shoes, a two-year-old's feet are still close to their natural state. Start with barefoot time at home (the AAP recommends this anyway), then move to barefoot shoes for outdoor protection. Get the fit right — about a thumb's width of space beyond the longest toe — using our toddler sizing guide, and check the fit monthly, because toddler feet grow astonishingly fast.
Not sure whether to start with closed shoes or sandals? We've broken that decision down in How to Choose Barefoot Shoes for Kids: Sandals vs. Shoes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do new walkers need ankle support? No. Ankle strength develops through use — the wobbles are the workout. High-tops and stiff heel counters don't strengthen ankles; they immobilize them. Pediatric guidance emphasizes lightweight, flexible, nonskid shoes for new walkers, not rigid structure.
Will barefoot shoes give my toddler flat feet? The evidence points the other way. In the largest survey comparing shod and unshod children, flat feet were roughly three times more common among shoe-wearing children. A flat-looking foot in a toddler is also usually normal — most arches don't visibly develop until ages 2–6.
Are barefoot shoes safe on rough ground? Yes — that's their job. A barefoot shoe isn't "no shoe"; it's a protective layer (ours are durable, sustainably sourced leather, handcrafted in South Africa) that guards against heat, cold, and sharp objects while staying thin and flexible enough to preserve ground feel.
What if my pediatrician recommended supportive shoes? Ask why. If it's for a specific diagnosed condition, follow that guidance. If it's general habit, it's fair to ask about the current evidence — the AAP's own consumer guidance has moved decisively toward flexible, lightweight footwear and barefoot time at home.
When should I be concerned about my toddler's feet or walking? Talk to your pediatrician if you notice persistent toe-walking after age two, a rigid flat foot (the arch doesn't appear even on tiptoes), frequent tripping that worsens rather than improves, complaints of foot pain, or strongly asymmetric walking.
Ready to see the difference a foot-shaped shoe makes? Explore our children's barefoot shoes, designed by an occupational therapist and an engineer — and parents who've watched these principles play out at their own kitchen table. For a deeper dive into the science, read our research-backed guide to barefoot shoes for kids.
References
- Rao UB, Joseph B. The influence of footwear on the prevalence of flat foot: a survey of 2,300 children. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1992;74(4):525–527. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1624509/
- Wolf S, et al. Foot motion in children shoes — a comparison of barefoot walking with shod walking in conventional and flexible shoes. Gait & Posture. 2008;27(1):51–59. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S096663620700029X
- Hollander K, et al. Growing-up (habitually) barefoot influences the development of foot and arch morphology in children and adolescents. Scientific Reports. 2017;7:8079. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-07868-4
- Gimunová M, et al. How barefoot and conventional shoes affect the foot and gait characteristics in toddlers. PLoS ONE. 2022;17(8):e0273388. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0273388
- Understanding the role of children's footwear on children's feet and gait development: a systematic scoping review. PMC. 2023. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10218108/
- American Academy of Pediatrics. Shoes for Active Toddlers. HealthyChildren.org. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/toddler/Pages/Shoes-for-Active-Toddlers.aspx
- Barefoot and minimalist footwear in children. PMC. 2022. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9398026/