Integrative Mom: Mahalo For Removing Your Shoes

Integrative Mom: Mahalo For Removing Your Shoes

'So this morning when he asked me “why do we take our shoes off when we go inside our house, but other people don’t take theirs off when they go inside their houses?” instead of giving him all of the reasons we do, I responded with, I guess because we’re part-Hawaiian.

To which he quickly replied, “but I’m not part-Hawaiian, I’m part New York!”

Yes, yes you are. Even more reason to leave your shoes at the door.

The truth is, we never wore shoes in our house growing up because my Hawaiian-Chinese mother never wore shoes in her house growing up. So it is simply a habit I’ve done all my life. Now, in retrospect, I am so thankful it is one that has stuck for many reasons.

I didn’t want to go into excruciating detail with my son about everything that he could possibly track inside our home if he wore his shoes inside, but I will do it here.'