My 15 yo son has spent his entire life barefoot, about 95% of the time. Only in the last six months has he worn shoes and socks regularly, and that's just to go to the gym and work out. He goes barefoot around the house, and we keep a pair of flip-flops or slides by the door or in the car for when we need to go in a store or something.

His feet are TOUGH. He takes no mind of the weather, unless there is snow or ice (rare, here). He can run on gravel. He runs faster without shoes than he does with shoes. I wouldn't recommend running barefoot without working up to it. Walking around the house and going out in the yard, stretching out the feet specifically. Building up callouses. My son's feet are like leather on the bottom, but surprisingly, they don't have the same kind of dry cracking issues that I have, wearing socks all the time.

There is a whole movement, as you said, about being unshod. We're not part of the movement--he just had sensitivity issues with shoes and socks from an early age. Having those tough feet are just a pleasant side effect of our homeschooling lifestyle. I shudder to think what our life would have been like if I had to force him to wear shoes for school!

Karen