Sneaker FAIL

Ben has needed new sneakers for months.

 

Note the hole in the toe, the worn treads, and the white plastic lining poking through the black cloth lining.

Back in June we finally had a chance to go to the sneaker store and get him a pair. Unfortunately, this is what he picked out:

                                                        Sorry for blurry photo.

I took a picture of it, because I wanted to show it to Dave.  It didn’t seem very supportive or whatever, in fact, it seemed kind of…decorative, and not very useful.  Kind of like Kim Kardashian.

Here is Ben when I told him we wouldn’t be buying those sneaks today:

                               “Really?  Whaaat?  But they’re perfect!”

After speaking to several authorities (Dave, Aunt Sue, and our priest), I decided we would not ever be buying those sneakers.  They are Skater Sneakers, apparently, and are, as I suspected, more for looks than actual physical activity.  I gave Ben the option of buying them himself or asking for them for his birthday in August, but we would be buying real, supportive, not gangsta-looking sneakers for him instead. 

A week or two later we returned to the same store, because his own sneakers were just getting worse.  He understood that he needed to pick other sneakers.  But we left the store that day emptyhanded because he just couldn’t find anything he liked and he was very grouchy and I wanted to leave him at the store that day, if truth be told.  We looked at two more stores.  Nada.

A week later, Grandma W. asked what he’d like for his birthday, and he suggested those sneakers.  She agreed!  I was excited, because it meant that now he would more willingly pick out ordinary sneakers, since he knew he’d be getting the sneaks he wanted.  We headed to the sneaker store.

And it was the same freaking story all over again.

Maddie waiting her turn for Aeropostale.    Also, me trying to take a pic of the two of us, and misjudging the subject location (I have an old phone and can’t see the subject if I’m doing a self-portrait), anywho, doesn’t my eye look cute?  And doesn’t Maddie look ready for a nap?

Then I took a two week hiatus of sneaker shopping and checked myself into Philhaven for a good long rest.

Fast forward to the end of July.  This week.  Our neighbor, Nathan, had new sneakers, and Ben really liked them.  I checked them out and they looked like good, acceptable sneakers to me, so we headed back to the sneaker store where there were a ton of sneakers just like the ones Nathan had…but not exactly the right name (which Ben had burned into his memory). 

Here is Ben searching, and then giving the Fake Nathans a test run.

The Fake Nathans did not pass the test.  And we left that $%&* store again with no sneakers.

Yesterday, we headed to Dick’s, where Nathan had bought his actual sneakers. 

AND JOY!

                               I used a $15 off coupon, people, stop judging me.

It is a happy, happy day at our house!!!

By the way, if you are thinking either

a) this story sounds somehow familiar or

b)  I’d have just bought him what I wanted, I’m the adult here, who cares what a ten year old thinks!

then read this post.