Shopping for school shoes

Well it's about that time of year again. No sooner do the school holidays get into full swing than I have to start making preparations for the boys going back, a prospect that no one in this household enjoys much but not for the same reasons. It was so much easier when they were younger, I could use their height as a guide to buy their clothes so I didn't actually have to take them shopping with me. Those were the days! 

Now, thanks to the dreaded early teen growth spurts,at the age of 13 they no longer comply with the industry standards so I have to get them to try things on. Hauling them around the shops, trying to find trousers and shoes that fit becomes an exhausting battle of wills, my optimism being slowly eroded by their alternating apathy and anarchy. Take their shoes for instance. When one is a size 12 and the other a 13/14 choices become limited. After a great deal of searching and 'debate' these were the only options we were left with..... 

See what I mean? Gone are the neat, tidy lace ups of yesteryear, that if I'm honest they had very little say about, and in their place are these small canoes ( yes that is a 12" ruler in the foreground). 

The orange laces are a bone of contention at the moment, the alternative black set the shoes came with being far more appropriate for school I feel. I'll probably give in though, sometimes it's good to argue about the small stuff then let them win, that way they don't mind as much when you stay firm about the big stuff ( besides which I was the overall winner when it came to wearing Blazers!)

I came home from our shopping trip feeling slightly nostalgic, remembering the very first pair of shoes I bought them at the age of 14 months. The time and care it took to get them fitted properly, the teetering steps they took as they got used the extra weight on their feet. At a child's size 5 and 5 1/2 I should have know then what was in store.....