I need some opinions regarding this issue because I am furious and I am doubting my sanity at this point. Am I too overprotective? Am I exaggerating? Am I being a Karen?
First let me apologize for my English. It’s not my first language. I hope it’s understandable.
My baby who was born in Japan and is half Japanese and half my ethnicity has finally enrolled into (public 公立) day care. He is 8 months old.
Today was his second day and they called me to come take him home because he was running a fever. When I came to pick him up I noticed that he wasn’t wearing his socks anymore. (I didn’t notice it yesterday on any of the kids) When I asked why was he barefoot, I was told that it’s the nursery’s rule and that all nursery schools have this rule. I couldn’t help but raise my eyebrow. It’s 5 degrees outside, the insulation of this building is basically non existent and there is no such thing as floor heating. Why is my child forbidden from wearing socks? No wonder he’s running a fever. They didn’t bother to give me an answer, but when I talked to my Japanese friend about this, she told me that they do this “for health benefits & to help the kids become immune to cold”.
I personally don’t get it and I find it so unnecessary. Why aren’t the teachers barefoot too? Oh, well, that is because it’s effing cold.
I’m so bothered by this rule. I’m considering sending him to a private nursery or at least one where the heating is used properly. I wonder if I worry too much though. I can’t help but get into Karen mode when my own feet are cold even with socks on and they make my baby stay barefoot while the entrance door is open most of the time.
30 comments
> for health benefits & to help the kids become immune to cold
If a kid reaches lv 10 while barefoot, they will evolve into an ice type, instead of a normal type. Hence the immunity to cold.
This is basic parenting knowledge, bro!
I work at a day care and we have the same exact rule, I don’t really get it either. The explanation they gave me had something to do with play time and socialization.🤷♂️
Apparently it is a cultural difference.
I am from Europe and have noticed since the beginning I’ve been here that the vast majority of babies don’t wear socks, whether it be freezing or with a dangerously hot sun.
I personally would put socks on a kid to avoid it being too cold or catching sunburns, but some reason I don’t remember Japanese people I’ve asked to justify not putting any. And if I don’t remember the reason, it most probably is because it’s a non existent one and is more to be classified as a cultural thing.
You’re not overprotective or being a Karen. Japanese nursery schools are fricking insane with their bullshit rules, probably to indoctrinate kids and their parents with the right mindset to follow society and it’s myriad rules without question. My kid’s preschool requires that every baby and child use cloth diapers, claiming that it has a health benefit. I sincerely doubt it, but even if it did, that would be my decision to make as the parent, not theirs!
I’m sure they have heated floors
I don’t think it’s a big deal either way. We’ve been to 4 different day cares (multiple kids, moved twice) and two were barefoot and two were socks + indoor shoes. None were just socks, I think it’s a slipping hazard. The barefoot ones, I remember my feet being kinda cold in the winter but none of the kids were uncomfortable at all.
There’s also plenty of science that backs up the assertion that adapting to cold environments builds up your immune system. For example: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8925815/
Choosing a place with heating that works is surely a thing you could do. Other than that, all the kids run barefoot. Every daycare facility I’ve seen. I didn’t think it was to toughen them up as much as to prevent them from slipping on the smooth floor.
Your place may be the outlier. I’ve been to places where I nearly fainted because it was so hot inside in the winter. Also, your kid will have fevers. Most of them will be because another kid sneezed in their face and not because they’re running barefoot. Don’t complain to the staff about this based on this one occurrence. This is your greatest Karen potential I see here.
There are medical reasons for keeping kids barefoot beyond just the loony “making them immune to cold” argument though. The obvious one is gait, posture and foot development (even socks can inhibit this), but also:
Motor skills:
[https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fped.2018.00115/full](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fped.2018.00115/full)
Nervous system development:
[http://www.naturalchildmagazine.com/1210/barefoot-babies.htm](http://www.naturalchildmagazine.com/1210/barefoot-babies.htm)
In the Netherlands – and most Scandinavian countries we tend to do the same. Even when it’s freezing.
Ask if your son might be permitted to wear one sock as he is only half Japanese.
My son’s nursery school forbids socks and any clothing with buttons for safety reasons (slipping, choking hazards) but the rooms are large and well-heated so I don’t mind the no sock rule. It seems the problem is the lack of heating in your nursery school?
What kind of flooring does your daycare have? I think the most likely reason is that they want to avoid having children slipping and hurting themselves because they were running about while wearing socks on smooth wooden floors. From my experience all daycares/schools here are absolutely terrified about getting any kind of complaint from parents so they come up with these ridiculous measures to try and prevent there being any kind of complaint from monster parents.
No floor heating, poor insulation and the kids go barefoot. Why would you put your child in such an institution in the first place? The onus of due diligence was on you. Go private.
First of all, fever doesn’t come from walking barefoot. Most of the time this is due to an infection of some sorts. Second of all, barefoot is basically natural for any human being. It is healthy and you get used to cold weather. Take the search here on Reddit for the Barefoot group. You will be surprised. And lastly, you are not a Karen. You are a mother. Nothing wrong with protecting your baby ❤️
It’s likely for safety reasons, slipping on the floor
Our nursery is barefoot. The floors are slippy with socks. Also, squishing food the toddlers have dropped into socks is not ideal. There is this idea that feet need to ‘breath’. Sweaty socks all day is not good for feet. Our nursery has adequate heating and underfloor heating too, so no socks is a zero issue, at least for us. Socks also get lost all the time.
And you better get used to fevers.
I once worked at a kindergarten in Fukuoka that was kind of old school. The school wasn’t that old though. The kids were barefoot indoors. When we had Sport’s Day practice outside in the dirt field, we were also barefoot running around the track. I’ve worked at many schools in Japan, but this was the only one like this. I couldn’t understand some of the rules they had there, so I only worked there one year.
I’m staying in Nagano right now to do a hometown birth and my MiL doesn’t even want my toddler to wear socks inside the house or while sleeping which is crazy to me.
I gave up and just bought my toddler footed pajamas so I can be sure he isn’t freezing at night lol.
But yes it is normal for daycares to do that.
Just to point out like another commenter, barefoot is very beneficial for the development of all things related to posture, movement, and stability.
Feet can withstand quite a lot with conditioning (check The Iceman who surmounted Mt. Everest barefoot). I reckon it’s not the worst rule to follow.
All the nursery schools I’ve worked at have required kids to wear inside shoes with socks or be barefoot. Just socks without indoor shoes wouldn’t be allowed as there would be a huge risk of children slipping and getting hurt.
That said, in the winter all the schools I’ve worked at have let the kids wear socks with their indoor shoes because it’s absolutely freezing and they refuse to heat the building. The one I work at now does heat the classrooms, thankfully, so I don’t have to deal with students that are screaming and crying because it’s so cold, and they’re able to actually do things like hold their crayons and pencils. Without heat on in the building it’s fairly easy for kids’ hands to go so numb they can’t do anything at all, and it really becomes an issue.
You may have to talk with the school, but it’s understandable why they won’t allow only socks.
Our nursery is the same, we just stick them on until we get there then take them off. I didn’t really worry too much though.
If it helps, my 13 month old prefers to be barefoot, even if it is cold outside. He’ll just yank off his socks. My 4 year old will also take off his socks inside regardless of the weather. I look at it like gloves – sure they’ll keep your hands warmer, but unless it is freezing, it’s more comfortable to go without them.
>Why is my child forbidden from wearing socks? No wonder he’s running a fever.
This isn’t a thing. Just like how it is cold outside necessarily means you’ll get sick.
Your kid barefoot has many other benefits just like how other posters are posting. Honestly, I wouldn’t worry about it.
If the kids are running around with socks they will slip and break their faces.
I’ve got myself a munchkin who is half-Japanese and this said munchkin has been in 2 daycares, starting from 8 months old, just like yours. And yes, socks are forbidden inside the daycare. Strictly forbidden. It seems as if one sock is found inside, they go Monsters Inc. on the daycare. In our newer daycare, I have to remove my munchkin’s socks and leave them in a tray outside. I find this odd. My wife (the Japanese side of my munchkin) says that it is totally normal and there is nothing to worry about. And yes, it’s 5 degrees in the morning and I have to take off my kid’s shoes, socks and jacket and leave them in the daycare bag outside.
Also, I have to pick my kid up early from daycare what seems to be almost once every two weeks due to a “fever”, only for me to get home and use our thermometer to find that there is in fact, no fever (below 37.5).
I don’t know anything about kids so I’m not really contributing but as a child I went to Japanese elementary school 4-6 grade and otherwise I went to American international schools. At the Japanese school, all of us kids were require to wear shorts and and short sleeve shirts for gym even when it was outside in the winter (even once I remember when we were hiking in a mountain with a sheet of snow). It seems like from the comments there is developmental value for small children being barefoot but in the elementary school the reasoning was the asinine belief that children will get tougher in the cold. It was so dumb. I think this old school belief may be less popular / enforced now but yeah there are still some unreasonable old fashioned beliefs enforced on kids here.
Your kid has a fever because he’s in a nursery school. Kids from different households spread bugs to each other all the time. Get used to sniffles and snotty noses, your kids immune system is going through bootcamp.
My kid has been barefoot at both hoikuen – but the teachers at the current one are usually barefoot too. It doesn’t bother me at all though, but my kid hates socks.
I worked in a preschool that had all the kids batefoot especially the toddlers 2-3 years old because having socks makes it easier for them to slip and fall. For the older kids, they could wear socks and shoes.
Pretty normal, same thing at my kids school.
Also, being cold won’t cause a fever, having an infection of some sort will
My nursery school also doesn’t use socks except when they go out with their shoes obviously. I don’t think they’re cold. The building has heating surely?? Mine does. It’s actually quite warm in the nursery rooms. You don’t get sick from being cold you get sick from viruses or bacteria. He’s sick because he is in hoikuen. Be ready for plenty more illnesses, sometimes multiple times a month. Kids are germ factories and especially the first 6 months or so he’s going to run through just about every illness there is. Colds, HFMD, flu, maybe even RSV or other illnesses.
My kid has never worn socks except with shoes when she’s walking outside. Even when she was a little baby she would kick or pull off her socks so I just gave up. Even when we went outside in the winter she had no socks or shoes on (before she could walk) I’d just put the carrier/stroller winter cover on if it was really cold out. She never ever got sick until she started going to hoikuen (around 11 months old) so it’s not from cold feet or whatever.