Identify That Shoe

I have girls.  They are not so close in age, but oh so close in size.  We seem to spend way too much of our time asking, "Whose shirt is this?"  "Who left their shoe in the middle of the kitchen?"  "Which one of you dropped this sock?"

It's the way life is.  Unless I freakishly color-coded everything they own...one child only wearing orange clothing...The other only wearing purple....

I've come up with one small step toward sanity with their shoes, however.  Those with laces, anyway.

Alphabet beads.

Anyone with female children knows what I mean.  We have thousands of them.  Beads! Beads! BEADS!

*cough*

Anyway.  I simply slide each daughter's corresponding initial into their shoes, and I instantly know who to yell at when I find a soccer cleat baking in the front yard.

This is not just for shoes that are identical.  This helps out dads who have no idea what their kids' shoes look like because, well, they're dads.  It helps kids select the right shoes at a quick glance as they're flinging themselves out the back door.  It's also for the times when shoes get left at friend's houses, giving them just a bit more identification.  You may have to use the full initial set on them if you did what my mom did and name all seven of your children with the same first initial.  Or, your children may be like my sister Tabitha and me and have the exact same initials, and then I ask you why? Why have you done that to yourself as a parent??

In the months or weeks to come, when your children have grown out of their new shoes and must pass them on, the bead is just removed, or traded out (sorry all you hand-me-down younger children out there!).