What to do if you have flat footed kids

Recently, a friend of mine posted in FB that she thinks her daughter has flat feet and she is asking what brand of shoe would be suited for flat footed individuals.  I remembered that one of my nephew has flat feet also, so I asked my sister in law to provide a guest post here and tell us the story on how she knew that her son got flat feet and what brand and kind of shoe her son is using.

Read all about it below:

I was having no problem with my son’s feet since birth as they appeared as normal as any other’s. However, when he was about 3 or 4 years old, he started complaining about leg cramps and his walk was rather awkward. During one of his regular check- ups, I asked his doctor about it.


The doctor examined his feet and asked her secretary to get 2 pieces of paper and traced one foot on each. Her explanation was that if the resulting drawing would reveal that much of the sole makes contact with the paper, my son probably had flat feet.

Say Hi to Pio’s feet 🙂

Another way of determining the same is through the “wet footprint” test which only requires wetting the feet of the person suspected of having flat feet and then having him or her stand on a level and smooth surface covered with heavy paper. The footprint left will again show how much of the sole is making contact with the surface.


It should be noted that feet which develop “correctly” should have an arch. Flat-footed people are said to have a medical condition where the arch of the foot collapses. All baby feet look flat but they are expected to develop arches as they grow older. If this does not happen, then having flat feet is a possibility.


Since the doctor is in the opinion that my son’s case of flat feet is not of the extreme kind, she recommended the use of shoes and sandals that have built in arches. She also recommended the use of orthotics or arch support to be placed inside shoes which do not have built-in arches. Required footwear should have extra support and stability.


As it turned out, this type of footwear do not come cheap but it eventually does because they last longer. For everyday wear, we settled for Birkenstock sandals.

As we were not inclined towards orthopedic shoes, finding the right school shoes was rather a challenge. It was a good thing that I rediscovered Happy Feet which now offered different styles including school shoes. 

During our time, I believed they only offered wooden sandals which were then already designed to have orthopedic function.


I recently heard about the New Balance running shoes which are supposedly appropriate for people with flat feet but we have yet to see it.

Visit comfortsole-ph.com to know more where you can buy Birkenstocks Sandals.
Also, check happyfeetsandals.com to check the location where you can also buy their sandals and shoes.

My sister in law owns the blog: http://just-passing-thru.blogspot.com/
Check out her blog and learn something from her experiences.