Brooks Kids Running Shoes for Best Results

There are three styles of Brooks kids running shoes, and they are found under a section as for "Little Men (Boys)." Calling boys "little men" is too cute for me, but maybe it appeals to their target market.

Also, I don't see any reason, structural or stylistic, why these shoes can't be worn by children of either gender.

Brooks Kids Running Shoes for Boys

The models are the Kids' Defyance, Kids' Ghost and Kids Adrenaline GTS.

Kids' Defyance starts with sizes 10.5 to 13.5 of the initial wave of sizes for children, with Size 1 being for an infant. Thus, these shoes start for children who have some growth and are in grade school.

They go up to the next waves of children's sizes, for youth, sizes 1-7.

This is a neutral shoe assuming the child is biomechanically efficient.

Their site lists two positive reviews from parents of satisfied customers.

One just says that their six year old son is very happy with his pair of Kids’ Defyance shoes.

The other mentions that their child, referred to only as “she,” ran a race of one and a half miles in them, mostly on her toes. I think of children who stand on their toes as pretty young, but maybe I’m wrong. I’m impressed that a young child would run one and a half miles. I thought that was a long distance when I ran cross country in junior high, at a much older age.

And that parent confirms the shoes are as well made as her adult Brooks running shoes.

Kids' Ghost is next model, and it's not clear to me exactly how they're different, except this model costs $5 more. Oh, it does have cushioning, so it's apparently got more overall support than the Defyance which is a neutral shoe.

So both of these can serve as starter shoes for young children. Then the Brooks Adrenaline GTS is for older kids, who wear youth sizes 1-7.

Brooks Kids Running Shoes for Girls

The above are the results I was given by Google and then Brooks based on the generic search for kids.

When I clicked on the link for Women, there was a drop down menu of styles, and at the bottom was a link to Kids Shoes. When I clicked on that, the page title was for girls, but did not call them "little women." I guess Louisa May Alcott owns the trademark for that phrase.

Or maybe they are afraid somebody would object to that on political correctness grounds, though obviously it doesn’t apply to boys.

Anyway, that page listed on two styles - the Kids' Ghost and the Kids' Adrenaline GTS.

Apparently girls aren't supposed to wear the Kids' Defyance. I have no idea why not. I don't see anything about the styles to mark them for one gender or the other, but maybe I'm missing a clue that is too stylishly sophisticated for me.

The Kids' Defyance is a neutral shoe. Is Brooks assuming that girls automatically have flat feet or need more support than the feet of boys? I don't see what difference it can make at that age. Feet are feet.

Maybe Brooks has not read the testimonial posted under the Kids’ Defyance section which mentions that a “she” child ran a one and a half mile race in them.

Brooks basically says that all these shoes provide support but don't overcorrect, so the growing feet are free to grow up naturally.

I know from my own personal experience that Brooks running shoes are very well made. I am on my second pair of Brooks Beast, so I also know that they can make shoes that provide lots of support and cushioning for pronating flat feet such as my own.

Plus, the shoes hold together even after there are holes. For instance, although Brooks talks about how these children's shoes have reinforced toe mesh, my big toe nail sticks up quite a bit (it's warped into an arch from the time when it was an ingrown nail), and wore a hole into the toe of the shoe.

However, nothing else went wrong until many miles later. And ever after some more holes worn and worn heels and shoes, they were comfortable to wear around, and I ran in them until I bought my next pair. I could still wear them for just walking around. You know that when you check out Brooks kids running shoes you’ll get a pair that is well made.

Next: New Balance Kids Running Shoes -- featuring their 632 collection.