I have been tempted, for quite a while now, to try and get my hands on one of those nifty foot measuring devices that they have in shoe shops. I very nearly bought one for Lara as a Christmas present (Mr. B. told me that was an inappropriate christmas gift!) and now Clarks Kids have started to sell Toddler and Junior foot gauges so that you don't need to queue up in store at a weekend just to find out if your children's feet have grown and can measure your children's feet at home. Phew.
Rather than having to go into store each and every time a new pair of shoes are needed, depending on your child's stage of development, you can choose from either a Toddler or a Junior foot gauge to get the shoe size and order online. For me, this is ideal because our weekends are so packed full of stuff to do that we simply don't have time to pop into town at a weekend just because I have the gut feeling that Lara or Holly's shoes are seeming a bit tight. Now we can measure at home to confirm that their feet have grown and then, either order their shoes online or else order for delivery to our local store where I know a member of staff will be able to fit their shoes far better than I can (I'm still not very good at determining how close to the end of the shoe their big toes should be!).
The Clarks Kids foot guage comes complete with step-by-step written instructions and pictures to help. There's also an online video demonstration of how to use the gauge on their website. We got a Junior foot gauge and used the instructions to measure Lara's feet. It took a couple of goes for me to trust myself that I had measured correctly. You take a reading for the length of the foot, and one for the width of the foot and then use the Clarks online shoe size calculator to tell you the size of shoe you will need to order. Lara's feet came out as a size 10f every time I measured them which is smaller than I had expected them to be so I went back and watched the video and re-read the instructions but the sizes came out the same.
Lara's current Clarks shoes are indeed a size 10f so it does seem to know what it is doing!!! However, I was surprised that her feet hadn't grown so I think I may need to go in store to watch the professionals in action and confirm Lara's current shoe size.
The Toddler gauge (£6) measures infant size 2 up to a infant size 9 1/2; these are suitable from walking to the age of around three. The Junior gauge (£8) measures infant size 10 up to a adult size 10; these are suitable for children from around the age of three.
