Why I won't let my five-year-old wear high heels like Harper Beckham

Five-year-old Harper Beckham can run in high heels. In fact, according to her proud mum, Victoria Beckham, Harper can carry off a pair of towering platforms better than the average woman.

"[Harper] loves to run around in the garden with her brothers and play football, but she is very, very feminine.

"She has been able run in [Alia] platforms for a few years right now she can wear heels like most grown ups cannot!" Victoria said on the UK's This Morning.


Of course, all children like to emulate their parents, and when your mum is a fashion icon, high heels and make up are par for the course. But when I think of Harper legging it around the Beckham residence in a pair of heels I feel a bit uneasy.

I have a daughter the same age as Harper (Miss Beckham is four days older) and as much as she would love to totter around in high heels, there is no way that I would let her – not even for play.

There have been times that my five-year-old and her big sister have raided my wardrobe and wobbled out of my bedroom in heels (always wedges – unlike Harper, I can't walk in anything else). But after joining in the game for a few moments I ask them to put the shoes back. Yes, I am a killjoy, but heels and kids are not a sensible combination.

My first concern is falling. While five-year-olds have mastered the art of walking, they are accident-prone. Look round any schoolyard and you'll see an impressive collection of scabby knees and bruised shins. As kids grow their centre of gravity shifts, so they can fall unexpectedly, especially when running.
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Throw in a pair of heels and that centre of gravity shifts further. Walking can be hazardous, and with further to fall, the consequences can be more serious than a grazed knee. They don't call high heels 'ankle breakers' for nothing.

On top of this, heels can actually damage children's feet. Podiatrist Brenden Brown told Fairfax Media that high heels are concerning because kids' bones are very soft. This means that changing the position or angle of the foot could cause bones to ossify into a misshapen position.

Research from the International Journal of Clinical Practice backs this up. Doctors from South Korea found that high heels may actually alter the muscle balance around the ankle joint, leading to instability and balance problems. While this study focused on adult women the findings are still alarming.

High heels have also been associated with lower back pain, sore calves, restricted blood vessels and crooked feet. Obviously these issues come from years of walking in high heels. But considering the long-term consequences, I plan on keeping my daughters away from them for as long as possible.

But there is another reason that heels on young girls make me uncomfortable; they are unnecessarily sexualising. As much as we want to believe they are just a bit of fun (and often a thing of beauty – we've all had a pair of stilettos we can't take our eyes off) they are shoes for adults – not children. We wear them to make our legs look longer, to appear slimmer and because they are sexy. None of which matters to a five-year-old.

My daughter may share a birth week with Harper Beckham, but while I have a say in it, she won't be sharing her taste in footwear. High heels are impractical for grown women, but for children they are ridiculous.