He’s always wore sketchers. Like since he was 4. Recently, he got really emotionally taking about shoes he wanted for middle school. He said if he doesn’t get Nikes he’s going to get teased. Great fucking marketing work Nike.
Kids are very materialistic.
When I was in middle school, I was probably the worst for me with the bullying. I came from a family that didn’t have a whole lot of money. Like even the cheap stuff we had to cut corners with. And well I was fully aware, that there was no real difference between what I had and what they had, it didn’t stop the consistent bullying. And the teachers never cared. The other students didn’t care in fact some of them would chime in too. And when that’s your life for several hours a day 5 days a week… You eventually just get to a breaking point.
I’ll never forget the day I basically had a complete emotional breakdown because we were doing back to school shopping at Target, and I saw one of those trapper keepers. With a weird designs on the outside. They were all the rage. And it was like eight bucks I think. My mom did end up buying it for me, but only because her soon-to-be 5th grader, collapsed in the isle crying. I don’t remember what I told her, but all I could think about was having that was going to make life just a little bit easier for me.
Kids can be real assholes to other kids.
I’m sorry you went through that. I’m glad you got your trapper keeper, though. Your mom made the right call.
Happened to me. Got Nikes, got teased because they were not a good enough model. Kids are monsters.
Yup. Learned that one back in the 3rd grade. This stuff is hard if you’re not experienced enough to know how people work.
On the upside, I learned that one cannot buy their way into other’s good graces, especially if they’re going to require you to modify your behavior to get there; they’re lying and that was never the issue. On the downside: holy shit that hurts once it goes wrong the first time.
As an adult I can also appreciate that there are situations where you can “buy your way in” to a club or status of some sort. IMO, those situations are generally not worth it to begin with, requiring an never-ending stream of cash to keep up appearances. Plus, it surrounds you with other people that also believe, and are invested, in the program. It’s a recipe for elitism at best, and a big 'ol grift at worst. Better friends and relationships can be had for $0 everywhere else.
Yeah, he’s not getting made fun of for his shoes. They’re just a convenient target of ridicule. Son is about to learn a life lesson.
I’m sorry. People are shit.
The solution to bullying is to do as the bully says /s
It seems to be working for America right now.
I was unironically told that I should “keep a lower profile” if I want to avoid being bullied. I spoke to nobody and hugged the walls walking from class to class. I don’t know how much lower of a profile I could keep.
Same. The principal and vice principals at the last high school I attended were also the football coaches. Going to them about how the jocks were kicking the shit out of me for being too nerdy and queer for their tastes got me that same “just keep a lower profile” bullshit from the highest authority figures in that dump.
Good luck fighting 200 8 year olds
Easy as an adult, not so much as a kid with a similar age
LPT If you back down a narrow corridor, make them come down single file, you can take them one by one.
I’m not saying anyone here wants to fight a y number of 8-year-olds, but how many do you feel he could take?
Depends on how angry they are.
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I don’t know if this is a bad idea, but recently all the Chinese manufacturers spoke out about how much the products they make actually cost, you can find the exact warehouse that makes them, and order directly from them, at a ridiculous mark down. Like a 10th of the price, or less. Might be worth some research. I see Adidas sambas for $10, including postage. They’re all there. They just don’t have the actual name label on them yet, because that’s all they do when they reach the distributor, though, so might be useless to you.
How do you find these?
I was too lazy to actually go find the specific warehouses. I just downloaded taobao, it’s partially in English now. I’ve seen and saved a few tiktoks with descriptions of the locations and which places do which items / brands. I just genuinely don’t have time to deep dive and do proper research, though.
Probably aliexpress or something
Nah, you usually have to direct message them via WhatsApp. You will have to pay like 15 or 20 shipping, so people usually buy a few pairs at a time.
There are specific marketplaces for things, but they tend to only sell bulk. Aliexpress is all resellers.
I am not even sure if the ones I posted sell exact knock offs or not though.
Buy him a crowbar.
Ultimate tool against bullying
An old steel rod car antenna is the ultimate. All you have to do is slice the air a few times and the sound alone will keep everyone away
My school everyone wore the same uniform. The only choice we could make was shoes or sandals 99.9% chose shoes. Sandal wearers got so much shit for it. It was a death sentence.
Kids find a way
Teach your kid to kick some teeth out with his Skechers. I have a feeling that your kid is going to get bullied no matter what he wears.
Instead of getting him 300$ shoes give him the choice of the cool shoes or the latest coolest video game or the shoes, or whatever hobby he enjoys…
Kids tease other kids because they themselves feel insecure… that’s literally all it is… if you need Nike shoes to feel secure you’re probably not a cool person anyways
The shoes are probably not $300…more like $100. And the kids goal is to not feel socially ostracized, not to spend money frivolously.
It’s not worth it but give your kids whatever sheltered life you want
Having to spend money tp avoid being socially ostracized IS frivolously spending money.
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Unworthy of serious attention; trivial.
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Inappropriately silly.
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Of little weight or importance; not worth notice; slight.
Tell me you have never been bullied without actually saying it.
To each their own…I would count not being socially ostracized as highly important, appropriate, and of significant weight.
So you would teach kids that bowing to social pressure by buying overpriced fashion items is ok?
To each their own indeed.
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Kids tease whomever they perceive as weak.
If he get the shoes, it’s the wrong model. If he get the right model, it’s his hair color. Etc.
The kids who tease have severe insecurities, they are dodging and deflecting and pointing at other kids so that no one looks at them
They do not tease folks perceived as strong
Probably true. That would explain why those bullied are so eager to join the bullies when the bullies set their sights on somebody else.
Or, as the saying goes, Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo, buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
True 🦬
$300 shoes? I think the most expensive shoes I’ve ever bought were $70. I’m sure a lot of the issue with him getting picked on isn’t so much brand name but him feeling like he has no say in what he wears and feeling like he is dressed by his parents in styles he has no say in. Its been 25 years since I entered middle school like this kid, but back then I would have felt the same way if my parents were forcing me to wear something I didn’t like/want. It wasn’t about price either. Often times the shoes my parents wanted me to wear were the same or higher in price, but styles change over time and vary by region/groups. People have their own personalities and prefer to fit in if they can. If the kid doesn’t want to feel like a toddler and have more freedom in what they wear it isn’t a bad thing.
Man sketchers are awesome. I have a pair that I’ve re-bought consistently for years because they were the perfect fit, comfy, and were nondescript. Now they’ve discontinued them so I have to see if I can order them online.
I remember when I was kid though. We always had hands-down, goodwill, and k-mart clothes. But one of my Pop’s jobs was a janitor at the “rich” school district and he’d watch the lost and found box and wait for the shit he brought in to expire.
Once it was in the bin for more than a month it got “donated”. Half of that stuff went to the kids of the people that worked there. My brothers and I being some of them. So Pops scored me a pair of Air Nike when Jordan was at the height of his career.
Wouldn’t you know it? One dude on the play ground had to ask why I was wearing a Walmart T-shirt while wearing Nike shoes. Seriously, kids are fucking brutal.
I learned long before that that I was “poor” so I learned how to play it off and flipped the script. “Are you that superficial that you give a shit? It never even occurred to me to look at what you’re wearing but now that I am, all you are is a wigger” (slur for a wannabe in my era/location). He left me alone the rest of our school career.
I’m in my forties now but somewhere in my thirties he hit me up on Facebook and apologized for being a little shit. Turns out he had a bit of a crush on me and that’s how he showed it amongst other reasons. He was newly divorced when he reconnected with me so I had to turn him down (that the only reason you’re apologizing, dude?) but he was much nicer about everything this time.
Kids can be nasty but many of them grow up. Anytime you can stand up to adults in front of your kids it’s teaching them how to stand up to their own peers. Show them every example you can of how to handle what they’re dealing with. How you stand up to your family, friends, and peers, is how your kids learn how to do the same thing.
You can’t buy yourself out of bullying. Even rich kids get bullied. Confidence in yourself and empathy for others are a far better lesson to teach the next generation.
Well understood. His Mom was poor and bullied in school. So much so that she brings it up from time to time. She quickly bought him the shoes. I’m going to work on getting him Vans or Hookas in the future.
Parenting is hard. She didn’t just by him bullying resistant shoes, She also bought herself a break from dealing with the guilt or fear of her son getting teased. And that’s perfectly fine in my opinion, choose your fight because life has lots of them. Offering your son other options in the future will be good too. These are not Nike they’re better.
I see this angle and somewhat agree. Issue delt with. The nice things is he’s not going to be self conscious about them and can focus on school.
Is he gonna smoke the kids in his Hokas or is he gonna smoke with the other kids behind the bleachers with his hookah?
Both, it’s a dual-purpose item!
Is the kid actually getting bullied or going to be bullied or has his mom just instilled a fear of bullying in him that he’s using it as an excuse to have whatever he needs to fit in?
I’m guessing he’s just getting teased. Add that he’s nervous about middle school
He should be nervous about middle school, that’s when the teasing is at its zenith
So instead of falling for nike marketing, you want to fall for vans and hoka marketing?
Well he already fell for sketchers marketing lol. It’s all marketing apparently
Not Saucony Jazz they have no marketing no celebrity spokesperson but they are my official shoe. The cheapest most comfortable foot ware. An old school runner that gives me ( a fat man ) a jump on the pigs even in my old age
🏃♂️ 🚓
Now your the marketing. Congrats you done played yourself.
Dang it
I sort of want to do a stake out and bust out on the playground if he gets teased.
Phrasing!
Same for iphone. Fuck Apple.
One of my good runner friends (3000+ miles a year and owns 100+ pairs of shoes) is the biggest sketchers fans I know of. Apparently their good running shoes aren’t even cheap anymore, like $110+.
I imagine these kids aren’t wearing super shoes anyway, or else they would know the puma’s are faster
I think that says more about inflation than Skechers. Even cheap shoes are expensive now.
Yeah, I agree! Sadly the days of fighting back are over. I have faith he can scrap is needed
I always thought they were old man shoes. LOL 🤣. I’m I the bully?
It’s okay I always hated Sketchers too. They were the shoe that you buy if you want to get bullied. Guess that’s still true today.
Well I’m in late 30s and high school was 20 years ago at this point, so I caved and finally bought a pair. Settled on their knockoff version of the Nike Flex and I couldn’t be more pleased. They’re just as comfortable as the real Flex, and 5x cheaper too. That said, part of me is still embarrassed to be wearing Sketchers. I wish the logo was easier to remove…
