OMG, are all soled shoes impossible to get on?

[YouAreTheFocus]

My son is 18 mo, and has always worn Hanna Mocs or See Kai Run Smaller. We both of these! So easy to put on, he's never tried to take them off, soft & comfy for him.

Recently we bought him some soled shoes--the regular See Kai Runs and also Jack and Lily. OMG, both pairs are ridiculously hard to get on. We are smashing his foot into this tiny opening--at least the J&L have a pull tab on the heel, the SKR were just awful.

For now I guess I'll buy SKR Smaller in 18-24, but he's going to be walking more & more, and I'm not sure how the suede sole will hold up. Any recs on (flexible) soled shoes that open WIDE & are easier to get on?

[KrisM]

We never had those brands. We had Ecco or Stride Rite. I just opened both Velcro straps and made the hole wide enough to get a foot in.

[citymama]

Pedoodles.

[lchang25000]

DS started wearing only StrideRites after he grew out of the Rileyroos and SKR Smaller.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Some shoes suck about that and so I don't buy them. I always test them myself at the store after a waste of $40 on a pair of Ecco's that were final sale and neither I nor ds1 could get on without way too much work. I linked to a pair of New Balance sneakers from nordstrom on another shoe thread the other day. They are sooo easy to get on- one big velcro tab that allows the shoe opening to be really wide. Tsukihoshi used to (still does?) have a style like that too.

Beth