Why does she curl her feet?

For some reason, whenever we tried to put shoes on Summer, she would instantly curl her toes up. She did not do it while walking, standing, or running around, only when a shoe went anywhere near her foot. The second we tried to put one on, her toes would curl tightly, making it surprisingly difficult to get her shoes on properly.

Sometimes it would take several attempts just to get one shoe on.

At the time, I did what most parents do and searched online to see if anyone else had experienced the same thing. Most of the advice I found suggested children curled their toes because they disliked wearing shoes, found them uncomfortable, or wanted to pull them off.

But that never really matched Summer.

She actually loved shoes. She would happily bring them to us, try to put them on herself, or even sit there trying on my shoes for fun. She never cried about wearing them, never tried to take them off, and never seemed upset once they were on. She even curled her feet when pretending to wear someone else’s shoes.

It honestly seemed more like an automatic reflex than a refusal.

For months I kept thinking she would eventually grow out of it, but the habit stuck around for quite a while. We tried all sorts of different footwear, trainers, little pumps, slippers, boots, soft shoes, you name it, and it made no difference at all. Every single time, those little toes curled up.

Sometimes she would scrunch her whole foot up into a tiny ball, making it almost impossible to slide the shoe on. I remember trying all sorts of little tricks to help. I would gently rub the bottom of her foot to help it relax or try distracting her long enough to quickly slip the shoe on before the toes curled again. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes we had to start all over again.

The funny thing was, she was never upset during any of this. Quite the opposite really. She would sit there happily trying to help me put the shoes on while unintentionally making it ten times harder.

I never experienced this with any of my boys, only with her, which made it stand out even more to me at the time.

Although part of me still likes the idea that maybe she was simply destined to be a little ballerina with permanently pointed toes.

Have you ever experienced this with your child? I would love to know I was not the only parent wrestling tiny curled up feet into shoes.