Prescoolian IWB closure choices: Lace, velcro, sport stretch, or zipper?

[ainwonderland]

I'm looking for opinions on the best closure methods for the I'm Walking Barefoot line of shoes from Preschoolian.

I can see my son untieing (okay how do you spell untie in the active form? it's not untying, or unting, yet untieing looks weird! Who knows.....) Anyhow, I can see the lace shoes coming undone (there! I know how to spell that!) unless I put them into double knots.

The velcro closure looks convenient. But then again is it going to be easy for him to get off?

The sport stretch laces (where you don't tie them, they appear to be elastic)look interesting since there would be no laces to pull at -- but then I wonder if it might be a pain to get the shoes on? Or if they would stretch out and then the shoes would come off easily?

And the zipper closure looks interesting with a nice wide opening as well, but then I wonder if Max could acutually get the "adult proof" zipper down.

I was wondering of those of you who have these shoes could you give me some real "mom opinions" of the pros and cons of each closure method you have?

Thanks!

[jubilee]

My son has had the velcro style and the zipper style. I like both. I have the elastic sport stretch style on order, so when I get it in a few weeks I'll repost here to let you know what I think of them.

VELCRO- is very nice, easy to put on, and my son never tried to take them off so that was never an issue for me. This was a style he had over 6 months ago though. I'd like to get another pair of them specifically because I think he might be able to soon put on his own shoes- and that would be nice!

ZIPPER- is also easy to put on and my son did try to unzip them and it didn't come undone. I did get a new pair that has a very stiff zipper and I can't unzip them, so I'm sure Preschoolians is going to replace them. The car zipper shoes are just the cutest shoes!! I must always have a pair for my son.

ELASTIC- I've heard they can be hard to get on/off if your child has a high instep (thick foot from top to bottom). My son doesn't seem to have that issue, so I'm hopeful the shoes on order will be nice.

TIE- I'm not going to get any of this style because I have a hard time tying shoes because of a hand problem I have. (I personally wear clogs all the time!)

Hope that helps!

[ktdid74]

I've always had the velcro closure shoes for DD and they've been great. I got another pair in the mail today and they're adorable. DD has never tried to undo them so I guess we're lucky.

[gour0]

I've had the sport strecth and the zipper and liked them both. I bought the laces for the next pair so haven't tried them yet.

[ainwonderland]

Thanks Everyone!

I decided to go with the brown nubuck velcro closure and the navy zip cars. I agree, that those cars are just sooo cute! I was wary of the zipper coming undone, but, since you guys say it isn't a problem I decieded to give it a try. Also, based on Julie's description/warning of high instep feet may have some difficulty getting the sport stretch lace type on I decided to steer clear of those for now. Max has some chunky feet and I feel like I really have to work to get his feet into some shoes already. Therefore I thought I'd try the velcro ones as well.

Thank you everyone for your time in posting your opinions! I just love the internet :-) You can find so much useful information and in the end save you so much time, energy, and money!

Have a GREAT day!

[mykidzmom]

We've got both the velcro and zipper preschoolians. Our zippers are the navy w/ car, and they are adorable!! My son is 2, and he has never tried taking them off. The zippers would be harder to get off than the velcros IMO.

[HallsofVA]

I have the navy car zipper shoes, the velco primary shoes, and the sport stretch shoes. So far we've used the zipper and the velcro shoes, but not the stretch ones since they're a larger size.

For the first week, the zipper shoes stayed on. However, I've noticed that the zippers have started sliding down on both shoes. Also, my son has mastered the trick of getting one of the shoes off, and does it on a very regular basis. He hasn't been able to unzip the shoes, but his playing with the zipper pull may add to the sliding down of the zipper. The zipper shoes have a stretchy area on the sides of the shoes, and it's stretchy enough for him to get the shoe off even if the zipper is mostly up. That said, the shoes are adorable and I use them whenever we're out.

The velcro shoes we only used briefly (they're too large but got us through until the zip shoes arrived in a smaller size.) They go on super easy. My son was able to get his foot out of them easily, but I think that's mostly because they're a size large. He has played with the velcro, so I'm concerned that he'll be able to figure out how to undo them when we start wearing them regularly.

The sport stretch shoes are even larger, so we haven't even attempted using them. However, when I'd asked Jeff for recommendations on shoes, he pointed me towards the sport stretch. Said they were easy to get on and couldn't come undone. He cautioned that the zipper shoes don't fit a high arch well, but said that the velcro fits all foot types.