<p>Another example of having failed to teach a life skill hit me last week as my college son informed me that he had know idea how to polish shoes, nor even how to get the lid off the polish that was part of the shoe care kit I gave him a couple years ago for Christmas. This was right before a job interview. I was incredulous: " Haven’t you seen me polish shoes? " “No.” He never paid attention, wore only sneakers and here he is, almost a grown-up with no idea how to do this. So via IM I wrote out the steps, only to have him say, I want some one else to do this. He is in NYC. I told him there are shoe shine guys in Penn Station, Port Authority, etc, there are shoe repair people who polish shoes. A big sigh. What else have I forgotten to teach him?</p>
<p>“What else have I forgotten to teach him?”</p>
<p>How to google “how to polish shoes”? Teach a man to fish… or surf. Mine haven’t figured out that the answer to almost everything (except the math riddle in the Cafe) is easily at their fingertips. I still like feeling needed, so won’t clue them in yet.</p>
<p>Outside of the military, who needs “polished” shoes?</p>
<p>There was a time when people wore leather shoes and took care of them for years until they acquired the patina of a well used item. Sneakers just don’t age that well. I say bring back the lost art of the shoe shine!</p>
<p>At one time, we bought shoes and expected them to last…or at least men expected theirs to last. Heels and/or soles could be replaced at reasonable cost. Those days are long gone and many shoes are not designed so that the heels or soles can be replaced. The cost is usually too high anyway. So we throw them away. The short lifespan greatly reduces the need for polishing and I suspect many people never polish shoes. They are replaced due to wear or changing styles before there is much need to worry about polishing.</p>
<p>My wife can’t stand it whenever I get on the subject of clothing so I will vent here. Nothing seems to be made to last. Clothing is designed for fashion and to be worn a few times and then replaced. Stone washed denim just drives me up the wall. Why take new fabric and decrease the life to about 25%? I recently bought a pair of cargo shorts and then noticed that the fraying was so bad that the seams were about to let go. I even regret the passing of synthetic blends. I used to buy jeans with 10% nylon or other synthetic fibers. They would outlast 100% cotton several times over. Oh, well, I am just getting old and crouchy. Since I don’t care a wit about fashion I am still able to wear my leftover 60:40 cloth shirts from the 70’s. They will outlast me.</p>
<p>What else did you forget? No one darns socks. That past several generations ago. How about sewing on a loose button? Hardly anyone can do that correctly anymore. Most young people would just throw the item away rather than fix the button.</p>
<p>Timely thread, Bugmom! We’re off tomorrow to look at colleges and I realised that my son’s shoes need to be polished before we go. I also realised that he’s never done it before, at 16. I’ve known since childhood and great importance was put on it in our household as my father was a Marine. Well, better get to it! THanks for the smile. (nothing worse than a scruffy looking shoe on a boy!) Oh, that reminds me of my college roommate after her first couple of months of marriage. I asked her how married life was, and she said that her husband (former Army, now investment banker) had an annoying habit of shining his shoes right before he hopped in the rack, and she asked if he’d do it some other time perhaps?. Whoever thought there’d be so many shoe shining anecdotes!</p>
<p>A bit of a twist on the original subject, but I have owned Blucher moccasins by LL Bean for years, getting them resoled every two years or so. My shoe repair guy told me this year that the manufacturer will no longer sell them the soles, thereby requiring me (and everyone else) to buy new shoes, even though the leather “body” of the shoe is still pefectly serviceable.</p>
<p>I’ve darned socks - though it’s been a while. I sew on loose buttons - all too often when the clothes are still brand new. I’ve got a pair of pants of dh’s waiting for me to sew up a seam that gave way. OTOH, I went to polish a belt (to make it darker) for S2’s Halloween Costume and couldn’t find the shoe polish anywhere. Apparently dh has given up polishing shoes… I have to admit I never polish my shoes - since all my shoes seem to be either suede or sneakers. I remember I used to get shoes repaired in town, but I can’t remember when the shoe repair guy disappeared. There’s a hair salon there now…</p>
<p>My husband still polishes his shoes on occasion, but usually has it done while they are being resoled. Yes, he still has his Cole Haan loafers resoles and taps added to the heel where he wears them out. We have resoled the shoes so many times that I often wonder if it is really worth it; although the higher end loafers are expensive.</p>
<p>While my son was taught to shine his shoes, that doesn’t mean he has ever done it. While home for a wedding this weekend my husband took a look at my son’s loafers and said they need shining. The response from my son was they were fine. Unless my husband shined them, it wasn’t getting done. I think they got a wipe down with a damp rag to make do for the night.</p>
<p>Funny to think about these things isn’t it? My H still polishes his dress shoes and keeps the wooden inserts in them so the kids have seen him polish shoes often through their lives. Me, not so much, every once in a while I’ll clean up my shoes. I don’t drive in my leather shoes because it scuffs the heels so don’t need to polish very often. Darning? Nah, don’t do it. Know how as my mom taught me. I just toss and replace. Buttons, sure we all know how to sew on buttons including the kids. I can sew, and have hemmed a far number of ‘boy’ pants, but these days, I even drop those off to a “pro.” I didn’t send a polish kit off to college with S1 and probably won’t with S2, but I did send a sewing kit!! All of 'em (my boys) can iron, but most prefer to drop off at the cleaners for a professional light starch and press. I rather enjoy ironing in front of the TV set with a can of Niagra at hand. My oldest was working at a college “gala” last week and I was so happy to hear that he took his dress shirt to the cleaners and was actually pressing his pants and rooting through his closet for real shoes. Whew, something sunk in somewhere along the line.</p>
<p>OMG, ironing and pressing. I remember going to college and my mother packed an iron. I don think I ever used it. Now, if it is not permanent press, I won’t buy it. I was given a couple of plain cotton dress shirts that needed ironing. They went to charity.</p>
<p>Now that you mention it, my husband polishes his shoes and keeps them on those wooden things! Has a whole kit! I hadn’t even thought of that when I thought of my son! I can’t even imagine him wearing leather shoes.</p>
<p>I darn socks!
The way my husband wears them, I am not able to afford not to! :)</p>
<p>Last year while visiting my son, I brought 3 pairs of leather shoes to the cobbler to give them “double shine” as suggested by a salesman at Brooks Bros. I doubt he has them shined since.</p>
<p>I have a pair of boots that turn twenty this year. (I bought them just before leaving SoCal for the northeast.) They’ve been reheeled four times; I always feel noble when I take them in. </p>
<p>Neither son has ever polished a pair of shoes. I think they’ll each be getting a tin of Kiwi in their Xmas stocking this year.</p>
<p>H & I polish shoes, although he prefers to get his done by the pros in NYC when he’s there on business. D has spent the last 3 1/2 years in NC wearing flip-flops or running shoes most of the time. S’s skate shoes don’t take to polish very well, and he wears his 1 pair of dress shoes as little as possible. BUT, that will all change as soon as he gets his official ROTC uniform. He’ll even have to iron! I’m having a big laugh over that one.</p>
<p>I know how to darn socks, but these days it seems as if the whole sock wears out at the same time. I’m also old enough to have had Home Ec required in 7th & 8th grades, 1/2 of each year for sewing and the other half for cooking. (But what I really wanted was to take Shop with the boys!!!) Anyway, I have a sewing machine and I know how to use it!</p>
<p>I just polished a pair of brown boots yesterday. I grew up watching my Dad polish his shoes every Saturday night for church on Sunday. When I was old enough to do it for him, I was tickled pink, so I have a warm spot in my heart for shoe polish. My D polishes her character shoes for shows. She knows how from horseback riding - must have well polished boots for showing.</p>
<p>When I was growing up,my father was the Sheriff of our county. He had a wooden box to hold the shoe polish,rags and brush. The box had the wooden piece with rubber attached on top where you would put the shoe while shining it. It was my job to shine his shoes every weekend. Most of the time he would have the shoe on his foot propped up on the box while I sat on the floor shining away and talking to him. He died when I was twelve. I still love the smell of shoe polish.</p>
<p>CBBBlinker, if your ROTC S turns out like mine, he’ll not bother with the iron but instead find a laundry/dry cleaners within walking distance of his school. Even if he does the ironing,it’s a good idea to go ahead and track down a nearby cleaners who do clothing alterations. Over S’s four years in NROTC, there were quite a few uniform alterations and various insignia that needed to be sewn on (in a profesional manner,lol).</p>
<p>Aww Packmom, you brought tears to my eyes. My Dad had that same kit. I was fortunate to have him until this year; I’m sorry you lost your Dad at such a young age. </p>
<p>Shining shoes without that place to put the shoe is really difficult. I don’t have a kit and trying to buff while holding the shoe or with your foot in it on the floor is hard to do. </p>
<p>When I go home for Thanksgiving, I am going to ask my Mom if his shoe shine kit is still in the closet.</p>
<p>My boys all have a pair of loafers or a pair of Topsiders that they can wear when they need to wear other than jeans and athletic shoes, flip flops or Birks. What do boys wear on their feet when they dress up if not leather shoes? Or is it just they don’t buff them up? I’m pretty clueless about teen clothing so my kids generally wear what I provide…which is all pretty classic stuff because that’s what I know for teen boys. Hmmm, I guess I’ll have to look at teen boy feet the next time we’re out and about.</p>