New Shoes

Landon has been bugging me for new shoes for awhile now. I knew it was time for a new pair (no matter how many I buy him, he’ll only wear the same pair over and over and over again and they get worn out quickly) so this past weekend I told him we’d make time to go look.

We decided to run in the mall after our lunch at Bobby’s Burger Palace, and the first store we saw was Skechers. I wasn’t sure he’d find anything in there, but much to my surprise, he found a pair he really liked. I was thrilled that it was so easy to find something he liked so quickly, so we paid and left.

He didn’t wear his shoes at all until he went back to school yesterday. I guess he wanted to save them until then. He was so happy to put them on yesterday and loved how they looked…they are definitely cool looking shoes.

Well, this morning, before school he casually asked me if Skechers were a good name brand shoe. I told him that they were a pretty good shoe and he said, “oh”. I, of course, knew something was up and upon questioning him he told me that his “friends” didn’t like his shoes because they were Skechers.

Gahhhh. I hate middle school!

He also told me that when they saw his shoes they all liked them until they found out what brand they were. (Grrr…) I asked Landon if he still liked the shoes and he said he did. He said he didn’t understand why the other kids didn’t like them simply because of the brand they were. I told him they probably didn’t understand why they didn’t like them either…just some stupid thing their parents or older siblings told them. Who knows. I also told him that he was just going to have to ignore what people said about them and that this was one of those things in life that just sucked.

I knew what I had to say and I did.

What I wanted to do was:

• find those spoiled brats and give them a piece of my mind
• buy him a pair of Nike’s or whatever the hell is socially acceptable. (I don’t even know!)
• write a letter to the school demanding they all wear uniforms so everyone has to look the same.

Of course, I didn’t do any of those things.

I have to admit that the part that bothered me most was knowing that he was so proud of his new, cool looking shoes and that his friends made him feel bad about liking them. I know that he’s going to have to be tough and develop a thick skin over the next several years and that this is just the beginning of that.

I also know that I hate it.