Shoe Policy

This post follows along the same line as my previous post. (I seem to be on a germ kick lately. I was a complete germaphobe in elementary school, its amazing I can actually function as an adult and I didn't even have to go to therapy. But, alas, I'll save that story for another post...maybe the next one.) Today's post is about wearing shoes in the house. Here is some background.

Growing up, we never had to take our shoes off in the house, unless they were really dirty, my mom never made us. I had a few friends growing up that had a "no shoes in the house" policy and I always thought it was really strange. The mother of my boyfriend in high school also had this policy and it drove me nuts that I had to take off my shoes every time I went to his house. Brent and I have never had this rule in our home until we moved to Halifax.

I remember moving into what would be our home for the following four years and getting settled and then coming to the realization that I would be EXPECTED to take off my shoes EVERY time I entered someone else's home. I'm not sure if this is actually considered a custom, but it is a very wide-spread practice in the Maritimes, and I can only assume, through out the rest of Canada. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong.) It is considered rude and disrespectful to walk into someone's house with shoes on your feet. Well, I was quite bugged at first but I quickly adjusted and I realized that others showed that same courtesy to me when they entered my house. I also realized some great advantages to this practice. After a while, I decided "no shoes" was really a good idea, for reasons I'll get to in a minute, and that we would continue this practice once we returned to the states. So, for about the first 3 1/2 years we were back in Utah "no shoes" was the policy at our house. And when we would go to someone else's house, we all would take off our shoes. It was just automatic for our kids to kick their shoes off immediately upon entering a house; it was all they'd ever known. I even posted a small sign on my front door that read "Please remove shoes upon entering. Thanks"

I admit I've relaxed on this rule quite a bit over the past 6 months or so. I'll get to those reasons in a minute, too. But first, this is why it is a GOOD idea not to wear shoes in the house. Shoes get dirty. We wear our shoes everywhere we go and in the process we pick up dirt, dust, tiny rocks, and germs. Then we track all of that in our homes. Carpets stay cleaner and nicer longer if nobody ever wears shoes on them because that gunk from our shoes transfers to the carpet. Secondly, if it is raining outside and you don’t take off your shoes, then your floors and carpet get wet. Wet spots make dirt and grime stick, and then when you do take off your shoes and you’re walking around in your socks and step in a wet spot, it just doesn’t feel good. Third (and this has been a big one for me), germs. Think of all the places you walk in a day; stores, restaurants, public bathrooms, etc. (Refer to my previous post for a better idea of what types of gross things may become attached to your shoes, as well as your purse and then realize you’re taking that into your house.) If you have babies or toddlers in your home, think of where they spend most of their waking minutes. On the FLOOR! They are crawling and playing in the areas where people walk, they are getting those germs on their hands and toys. Where do these little creatures put their hands and toys? In their MOUTHS! Would you ever hand your baby a toy that had dropped on the floor of a public restroom without doing some serious sanitizing first? Maybe my kids were just abnormal, but when they were really little, they would pick up food that had fallen to the floor and eat it. I certainly never considered this an ideal way to feed my kids, but sometimes they were faster than me. But, I felt a lot better about the floor being a buffet table when I knew nobody was tracking in crud on their shoes. Surely you would never allow your child to pick up Cheerios from the floor of the Wal-Mart bathroom and eat them.

Now, I don’t know the origins of why Maritimers take off their shoes. I don’t know if it happens to be one of the reasons I’ve listed or something completely different. (Maybe someone could clue me in here.) But, the above paragraph demonstrates my reasons for why this was a rule in our house. I know it really bothered some people, especially my dad. In fact, he would’t take off his shoes when he came to visit and he told me point-blank he wasn’t going to. I just accepted that and didn’t let it bother me.

Sadly, I admit the rules at my house have changed. Maybe I’m getting lazy, or maybe I don’t care as much, which is probably the case. At any rate, I quit caring when my kids were old enough to know better than to eat off the floor. (The dog still eats off the floor, but I don’t worry too much about her. She also eats garbage and it doesn’t seem to make her sick.) I no longer tell the visiting or home teachers they have to remove their shoes and the sign on my door is gone. I do not allow shoes on my furniture and I still prefer people not walk on my carpet with shoes, but I really don’t care about the hard wood and the tile, its really easy to clean. Still, though, when we have a large group of people over for dinner or a party, I make everyone leave the shoes at the door, its just too much foot-traffic. It goes without saying, if one’s shoes are muddy, really dusty, or wet, they also must be left at the threshold. I also no longer remove my shoes at someone else’s house (as long as they are “clean”) unless that person asks me to or they are shoeless when I arrive. Because, really, if it is a “shoe” house, then my socks are going to get really dirty.

So, I’ve really exposed some of my idiosyncrasies with my recent posts and I’m wondering, is there anyone still willing to be my friend? I’ll let you wear your shoes in my house but you still can’t put your purse on my table.