Which is the norm in your family during the summer for wearing sandals or going barefoot in your backyard?

a. both girls and boys wear sandals in the backyard
b. girls wear sandals but boys usually go barefoot
c. boys wear sandals but girls usually go barefoot
d. both usually go barefoot equally

The rule in my family has always been “Boys go barefoot. Girls wear shoes.” That was my grandmother’s rule, but it goes back long before her. She’d never have let either of my aunts out of the house without their shoes, but my dad walked barefoot to school every day, and was barefoot everywhere else as well. When he retired he went back to going barefoot everywhere, just like when he was a boy. I’ve always wanted the same for my own two boys. Neither of them have worn any shoes since the first day of spring, and they won’t be wearing any again until late November. As for me: I’m barefoot in the house, and sometimes on the lawn, but I always wear my sandals when we go out anywhere. I never had any girls, but if I had, I’d have wanted them to wear sandals too, unless they’d turned out to be tomboys. I’d never try to stop a tomboy from being a tomboy, or from going barefoot. Barefoot tomboys are part of the tradition too, just not my part.

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