Okay... we are going to go camping this summer and katherine needs a good pair of sturdy running/tennis type shoes... all she has is some boots (which will be too hot) and some soft leather soled shoes (which i don't want if we are camping, because rocks etc can hurt her feet to step on stuff in those.)

I am not sure how to buy these for her... how big is too big? I don't want to buy them and have to buy another pair right away. And what is a good brand? I want them to be good for her feet, not too rigid or annoying -- does anyone know who makes good sturdy shoes for toddlers like this? I don't want to spend a lot of money, but I don't want to buy a cheap uncomfortable shoe that hurts her feet either.

I usually buy with a thumb at the end of the big toe....if you have a Famous Footwear, they carry some great toddler tennis/walking shoes that are for normal or wide widths and are much better for prices than say, Stride Rite....some good brands there are Munchkin, Nike, Adidas, Weebok/Reebox, Buster Brown and several others...

You can get some good toddler sized shoes that hold up well at Target and Walmart too! Cheaper, just a little plainer sometimes and not wide withs as much available...

Payless Shoes has toddler departments in some of their larger stores too for good prices and good quality for the price...you just need to see what store in your area has the toddler department before driving to a lot of them...

You know, I've found decent shoes at all the stores - Stride Rite, Payless, Target, etc. (although I've never had luck with kid's shoes at Kohls for some reason). If you have a Marshalls (like owned by TJ Maxx), they usually get last season's Stride Rite's and other name brands in for 1/2 the price.

Unless they're dress shoes and won't be worn much, choose leather over "man made" materials. Make sure the sole is flexible by bending it. And make sure she goes with to try them on. Plenty of times I pick a shoe and once on my kid's foot, it just doesn't fit right. And I usually go with the forefinger of extra space at the end (try to feel where the second toe is, since it's the longest one - not the big toe, and then if there's about a finger length of extra room, then there's some growing room.)

Cheese- I love the Wee Squeaks shoes. They are leather or canvas. They fit wide feet but are on the heavier price side. With the wide block feet in our house, it's one of the better priced options and they're still quite flexible. I try to buy them used (g-sale and sally ann)
www.squeaksandgiggles.ca is an e-boutique out of my town (northern alberta- if I recall you are a fellow alberta girl). Are you in southern alberta- because the city boutiques probably carry wee sqeaks- I don't know what there is in Lethbridge.
HTH.
d:)

I'm in Northern Alberta -- Athabasca. I see you are in Fort McM? Wow, we aren't that far away from each other. LOL. [verycool]