Of all the things I imagined my children might have challenges with socks was not one of them! Despite that shoes and socks can be the cause of a 20 minute battle that our morning routine really can’t accommodate.
Our oldest boy has Sensory Processing Disorder, a complex and frustrating condition that effects the way his brain processes information received from his senses, making him very intolerant of lots of sensory experiences, like wearing clothing. Especially socks. In his world all socks are lined with thumb tacks and are so painful to wear they can often be found flying through the air at our house as a result of being flung from an offending foot at great speed. Given this detail about socks you can imagine how well he goes with shoes. Lets just say they aren’t aerodynamic either. You can read more about Sensory Processing Disorder here.
Despite occupational therapy and hours of brushing, which helped enormously, there is still a cold war on socks that erupts to out and out war most mornings that can take anything up to an hour to negotiate a truce for so we can head off to work and school. I cannot tell you how exhausting and frustrating this is for all of us, particularly seeing as none of us are morning people to begin with!
After a lot of observation it seemed to me that the biggest issue was the little lumpy bits socks get at the corner of the toes, as things were slightly less explosive if he put them on inside out. So Google and I went in search of seam free socks for sensory kids and found them. Hello SmartKnitKids Seamless Sensory Socks, which you can buy here. Hallelujah and praise be to the entrepreneurial angels that manufacture such things for our mornings have been (mostly) saved!
These gems are absolutely seamless socks with no shaped heel. That means no annoying pokey bits at the toes and no trouble with putting them on upside down. Perfect for children experiencing the hypersensitivity that comes with Sensory Processing Disorder (or just hate socks), and bliss for parents who know the stress of dealing with flying sock meltdowns regularly. Well worth the more than $10 per pair investment required to acquire them, despite it feeling like extortion at the time.
I will warn of one unforeseen side effect. I have become obsessive with socks and often hear myself saying (loudly and passionately) ‘PLEASE do not wear those socks outside!’ or ‘make sure your socks go IN your bag’. It has paid off though, we have only lost a couple in the year since buying them.
So if the sock stand off is part of your morning routine I highly recommend heading over to www.itmakessense.com.au and investing in some seam free socks. They might just thaw the cold war on socks at your place too.