The Ultimate Hiking Shoe for Kids – Teva Review

“Mom, these shoes feel like I’m wearing slippers – I never want to take them off.” This was the first comment out of my son’s mouth after he put on his Teva’s for our hike.

I have a confession to make. Living in a Central American country it’s easy to get caught up in the cheap shoe dilemma. You go to the central market and there are so many shoes that ‘look’ like the real deal, but are a tenth of the price.  So we tend to stock up on these cheap imitations.  With the real focus on cheap. Within a few days, we realize how terrible they really are. First of all they make our kids feet hurt, they rip apart and we need to go and get a new pair within one to two weeks of purchasing them.

It was time to change all that. When I took my gap year of travel, I literally ended up living in my Teva sandals. They seemed to be perfect for practically every adventure and occasion. The only reason I stopped ‘living’ in them was when I moved back to NYC and it was too cold to wear them. So I decided for my outdoorsy son, he needed a good pair of hiking shoes.  That’s when I turned to my trusty Teva and found – Kid’s Sky Lake.
Let me tell you, it’s worth the extra few dollars to get really good shoes! In the long run, they come out to be a tiny bit more than the cheap ones you end up buying since you need to trade in a new pair on a monthly basis.

But that’s not where the benefits of a good kid hiking shoe ends:

1. Comfort – this is such a biggie, it’s hard to even put the words on paper. Every time we go anywhere with our seven year old he whines and cries how tired he is, how he doesn’t want to walk. Since we put on his new hiking shoes, my husband and I are constantly giving each other secret looks of amazement as to how quiet and energetic he is. To the point, we don’t even know how to react to his NO complaining stage.

2. Active – My husband is a full on climbing junkie. He’s energy for the sport is contagious and my son has started doing weekly rock climbing trips with him. The rock they visit is a good hike in and then the obvious climb. For months, my husband has been saying he wants to get our son good shoes. But since we do live in Guatemala, the options are non existent. Until we put on his new hiking shoes and they ROCK! (no pun intended).

3. Resistance – Ok, who’s with me that kids simply use the hell out of their shoes? My son is no different. Since we got our hiking shoes, he’s done quite a few adventures with them that made me want to scream that he’s ripping the shoes. But, I was wrong. They seem to be looking as good as new!

When shopping for kids travel and hiking shoes, don’t skimp on the price. Trust me, you’ll be so much happier when you get the quality shoe!

Thank you, Elinor Fish, for sending us the Kid’s Sky Lake hiking shoe, my son and I are super pleased! All of my opinions are always my own.

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Article by Marina Kuperman Villatoro

Marina Kuperman Villatoro CEO of TravelExperta.com, a travel resource site to inspire families to travel with kids of all ages. I've been an expat 10+ years in Central America raising 2 boys in a multicultural, trilingual household. We travel all over the world. Needless to say, it’s never boring! Join Marina on Facebook and Twitter for more Central and Latin American fun!