Sending Your Child's Feet to College

Some of you have been dreading this day since the day he/she was born. Some of you have been waiting anxiously since he/she became a teenager. Your bundle of joy is all grown up and on their way to college. Parents across the world are preparing their lectures on sex, drugs, and alcohol. There is so much they have to learn on their first adventure with independence. What parents often overlook at this vulnerable time in their child’s life is the “foot talk.”
Hear me out before you think I’m crazy. I don’t want to undermine the importance about talking to your child about sex, drugs, and alcohol, but there are other important conversations to have. Young adults can be afflicted with a magnitude of foot disorders that can be very embarrassing and socially limiting.
Sweaty, Smelly Feet!

How on earth will your son your daughters make any friends if they have the smelly feet dorm room! If you think your child’s feet stink, imagine confining all of their dirty socks and shoes and their feet in a small poorly ventilated, overheated dorm room. It may not seem like a big deal now, but it is a major problem that can lead to athletes foot and toenail fungus. In your 20s with a fungus farm growing on your feet… good luck meeting your life partner!

Bare feet among fungus, bacteria, and who knows what!

We have all heard the importance about wearing sandals in public showers, but what about public areas in general. How often do the hallways of the dorm or your child’s dorm room floors actually get cleaned? It is college, so we can only imagine what is on the carpet. All you need is a tiny cut or skin opening to get infections. Plantar warts can be very common among college students because the virus can easily transfer from person to person when everyone is walking around barefoot in their new home called the dorms!

Ladies are walking home barefoot because their feet hurt!

If you’re a woman, you know the pain induced by wearing cute shoes. After spending all night in those high heels at a party (I mean “library”), the girls’ kick off their heels to relieve their feet on the walk home. What’s on the sidewalks in a college town? The most dangerous is glass! I recently went to surgery for a young lady who had a piece of glass lodged in her foot for 3 months! This lucky girl avoided a severe infection, but that is not always the case.

Pedicure day with the girlfriends!

Whether your daughter is familiar with getting pedicures or not, the girls will hang out and do girly things like pedicures. Don’t forget your college driven child is broke, thus they are always looking for a good deal whether it is penny beer pitchers or affordable pedicures. A pedicure can be disastrous if the tools are not cleaned properly, the spa chairs are not flushed properly, and the pedicurist does not use proper precautions to not cross contaminate. Remember, people with foot fungus or bacterial infections get pedicures too. Now I’m not saying the more expensive the pedicure the safer it is, but remind your child to ask about the cleaning techniques of the pedicure instruments.

So if you don’t have enough to worry about sending your child off to college, here some more things to add to your list. If your child has sweaty feet, see a podiatric physician before all possible friends are running away from the odor. Remind your children to watch their feet and take note of any changes. Don’t wait 3 months before you seek medical help for glass lodged into the foot, toenails changing color, or flaky, itchy athlete’s foot.