Right up there with breastfeeding, circumcision, and politics is this hot button issue: Shoes in the house or no?
Personally, I'm a "shoes are OK" kind of person. I understand it keeps your house cleaner to not wear them, and my family generally ditches shoes indoors. But when people come to my house, I want them to be comfortable, and if that means keeping their shoes on, they can go right on ahead.
To my great surprise, JoAnn from Bensonhurst agrees with me. In this latest episode of her show, she tackles all kinds of cleaning questions from viewers, including the shoe question. Check out what she has to say in the video, after the jump.
To illustrate her point: "I'll never, ever forget the first time I met my in-laws. There I was, a nice 20-something from a nice family who just so happened to allow the wearing of shoes indoors, meeting my very promising boyfriend's parents for the first time. And upon meeting me, instead of 'It's so nice to meet you, our son has been telling us a lot about you' or even 'Hi,' the very first words my future MIL spoke to me was to bark 'SHOES OFF' when I walked through the door. Sigh."
I'm with JoAnn. You can clean when they leave -- let your guests be comfortable. If it's wet or muddy outside, or if I'd been tromping around their garden, I would certainly ask if someone preferred I ditch my shoes. To me, wearing slippers, stocking feet or going barefoot are for close family and intimate friends; padding around someone's house in your socks is like showing up in your bathrobe. Do what you want for your family, but let guests keep their feet covered! Listen to JoAnn, people:
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Do you make guests remove their shoes?
Image via CafeMom Studios
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Comments 59
Foot fungus and smelly feet are worse than dirt.
We have new carpet and prefer everyone takes their shoes off, but we don't FORCE them to.
Kids ingest more lead from tainted soil and dust coming in from the outside than from lead paint inside a home. When a child registers a high lead blood level, first thing the doctor tells the parents is, no shoes in the house, mop every day, and get more iron." I've followed this advice and my kids both have indetectible lead levels despite living in a house that surely has lead paint under there somewhere due to age.
With that, its not a matter of manners, but rather, common sense if young kids are in the home.
When I'm in other people's houses, I follow their lead. If they take their shoes off when we walk through the door or I see a place where shoes are supposed to go, I take then off. In my own house, I take them off and so does the rest of the family. Guests can do what they like, though most opt to take their shoes off after seeing ours piled in the entryway. The only exception is in the winter, where I do make guests take their shoes off because of the snow.
I over look it - but I prefer people take shoes off. I hate people bringing in mud, dirt, and animal feces. We live in the country. most of us have dogs and live stock outside. Shoes don't belong inside anymore than our goats do. LOL