Mildly Infuriating

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.

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.

Same for iphone. Fuck Apple.

Look up cost of living back during the time you are thinking about and what the money used to be worth back then I guess

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.

I blame the parents and schools for not doing anything about bullies and teasing. I was in the trenches as a kid, I remember all the Jack Shit they did back then.

I sort of want to do a stake out and bust out on the playground if he gets teased.

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.

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

Yeah, I agree! Sadly the days of fighting back are over. I have faith he can scrap is needed

The solution to bullying is to do as the bully says /s

Buy him a crowbar.

Ultimate tool against bullying

Congrats, there’s a good chance you just bought into being part of the problem. Your son is probably now a card-carrying member of the group that teases other kids for being less than.

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.