How supportive are your friends/family?

Discussion in 'Barefoot' started by solemum, Jan 4, 2012.

  1. solemum

    solemum Member

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    Would be interested to know how supportive your family and friends are about your barefooting? Seems many in the US have a pretty tough time so any sort of support must be appreciated, I would have thought?

    Here in NZ of course, thats not an issue at all. My mother, divorced and in her late forties, is very supportive of my lifestyle. She supports me in my barefoot life, the way I bring my children up etc. Often we will go shopping together and she will come barefoot too, which I find really neat.
    I have many mummy friends too who are keen barefooters, often we will have coffee together at the mall, or at each others house, and we never have shoes with us.

    I do find this kind of support and encouragement really beneficial.

    My MIL on the other hand, is a complete bitch about my lifestyle. She refuses to be seen in public with me and has tried many times to purchase shoes for my children, without success. We were invited to their 25th wedding anniversary dinner recently, and I reluctantly agreed to go. I wore thigh length leggings laced at the bottom, and with an open lace strip up the side, along with an off the shoulder short top. Naturally I was barefoot , I thought quite presentable, but again she hit the roof!, and quite publicly too. She criticised me for being barefoot, my tattoos, on and on.....I just ignored her and had a good time!

    Seems like you cant please all of the people all of the time!

    Be keen to get your feedback on the moral support you do/dont get:love:
     
  2. PatrickGSR94

    PatrickGSR94 Member

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    My wife has no problem with it, except inside stores if she's with me because she doesn't want to endure "possible" embarrassment if someone calls me out on it. It happened 3 times in 1 week (2 restaurants and a Lowe's hardware store) and she said enough is enough after that - shoes on if she's out with me. But every now and then I "sneak" in alongside her to a place I know does not have a problem with it, and she usually doesn't notice or doesn't say anything.

    Her parents don't really care, my FIL grew up on farms in the '40's and said they went BF all the time. My mother was also BF a lot when she was young. However my father tells me every now and then that I will regret going BF all the time about 10-20 years from now. I attribute this to foot problems and surgeries he's had in the past and the fact that he cannot go barefoot on any rough surface without any kind of pain.

    Brother and SIL have never really commented on it, but since no one else on any side of my family goes BF regularly, I pretty much always wear my VFF's or flops to any kind of gathering away from anyone's home. Inside relatives' homes I'm pretty much always BF.

    As for work, I told my boss how going BF has helped some of my long-standing foot issues and he said he's fine with me being BF in the office, as long as I have shoes to wear around clients or whenever I have to visit construction sites. In my mind that's a huge plus for me! I have gone entire days, even work days, with nothing whatsoever on my feet. :2thumbsup:

    Any pics of your BF adventures with others?
     
  3. charlie35

    charlie35 Member

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    That's a stupidly extreme reaction!!

    My gf accepts me being bf though sometimes I wonder if she secretly wishes I didn't. I don't raise the subject in case it gives her an opportunity to say something negative. I am at last getting more comfortable with my family. I was bf with them all over Christmas and no one said anything. There again they don't know the extent of my outdoors barefootedness.

    I guess the lack of open support from family is what draws me back to this forum for reassurance that I am not alone!!
     
  4. crispy91

    crispy91 Member

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    My dad's cool with it. Even when we're out in public as long as I have shoes in the car in case I get kicked out of some place. All of my friends don't really care, and neither does my brother. My mom and sister, however, don't like it. Apparently, they both make fun of me when I'm not around. Such loving people.
     
  5. jagerhans

    jagerhans Far out, man. Lifetime Supporter

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    most friends (except one) proved to be cool with that, traveling (mostly on trains) or just hanging around. a couple of them are part time bf'ers but i rarely meet them. on the oher side one friend showed an extremely aggressive reaction (told me never to show up again bf at his place, later when he met me on public road added that he'd happily shoot 'the ones like me' one mile away, and since then never saw me again). don't give a damn about family, honestly. ladyfriends show mixed reactions, generally verging on the negative side.
     
  6. charlie35

    charlie35 Member

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    I just can't understand the extreme reaction of some people. That's just insane. The nearest I ever got to something like that was when a motorcyclist saw me crossing the street and made a point of stopping to abuse me, telling me to "put some f*cking shoes on, for Christ's sake". I just can't believe some people!:(
     
  7. bfjohn

    bfjohn Member

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    My friends and family have no problem with my barefooting.
    It doesn't attract much attention in the UK, and the few comments i've had have been quite positive.
    I have never been thrown out of anywhere.
     
  8. deleted

    deleted Visitor

    I often wear high heels.. Id have to say my family is very supportive of me going barefoot.. :p
     
  9. weeattoes

    weeattoes what will be, will be

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    haha orison...


    Most people i'm around aren't supportive at all.
    One time my mom even told me we aren't going in public at all if i don't wear shoes. I go places often and so i just carry some flip flops or flats because they are easy to slide on and off and i can just put them in my purse since i never put things in it except for my wallet anyway.. My friends have always thought it was completly strange that i like to be barefoot but in a way i guess they have just said more along the lines of "whatever jaz" and just have accepted it for the most part. When i'm places that aren't public stores my choce is to be completly barefoot.. I have gone into different stores barefoot and they have all told me to wear shoes (wal-mart, target) and so forth. I have gone into some re-sale shops and none of them have ever told me anything but most people i'm around find it embarassing and completly out of the "normal" to not wear shoes.
    I don't understand why people think its so wierd. Its completly natural. Sometimes when i'm leaving and i'm all ready out the door and i'm like "ohh shit i forgot my shoes" ahahha.
    When i'm at places like beach bars, parks, walking, re-sale shops, home and stuff i am pretty much always barefoot regardless of how people look down on it.
     
  10. crispy91

    crispy91 Member

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    I think it sort of started because people viewed shoes as a status symbol. Sort of "ancestor memory" if you will. Maybe part of it had to do with the '60's, when hippies were viewed as filthy, constantly stoned communists.
     
  11. AstroShark

    AstroShark Member

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    I dont go out with people who have a problem with it!
     
  12. kernow10

    kernow10 Member

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    My friends are fine, they got to know me as my barefoot self. My parents however still hope I'll grow up and decide to buy some 'nice' clothes & shoes, get a proper job,live a sensible and responsible life, back on the grid.....yeah like that's going to happen :beatnik:
     

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