Let those toes shine!

The Closed-Toe Parenting Movement first received national attention in late 2011 when Tricia Markowitz released her book, These Little Piggies Remained Inside. In it, she posited that toes, being small and "unfortunate looking" should be hidden from children. "Infants see their toes as the stubby relatives of their fingers, and therefore imagine their feet to be, in essence, 'lower hands,'" wrote Markowitz. "But feet lack the versatility that make hands so valuable. Therefore, by removing the toes from view, the child will accept feet for what they are--tools for motion--without having to face the disappointment that comes with realizing their limitations when compared to those other, more useful five-pointed appendages."

From 2011 to 2013, the movement picked up steam. Children's feet would be hidden away in blob-like shapeless boots that could only be opened and removed through use of a key (kept away from the child by his or her parents). Starting in early 2014, though, Closed-Toe Parenting began to go out of style. Children complained of unitchable scratches, and since the shapeless boots were to be worn always, even while bathing, the odor of unwashed feet grew almost too strong to handle.

The Movement was dealt what would later be considered its death blow in late 2014 when child psychologist, Patricia Helensworth, penned an op-ed for The Times, titled, "The Strange and Unhealthy War on Toes," in which she hypothesized that a generation growing up unaware of its own feet could be far more disastrous than anyone realized. And while some of what she wrote was perhaps a bit sensational--"The air will fill with shrieks of terror as they gaze upon the newly-revealed finger-like worms that have for too long been hidden from them," wrote Helensworth--the psychological community for the most part agreed with her.

What followed, in 2015, was a time of rebuilding for the toe's reputation. Celebrities walked barefoot through the streets of Los Angeles and New York. A cartoon show premiered featuring an anthropomorphic toe who solved crimes. But, most effectively, children themselves were fitted with Teva Original Universal Sandals, so they could grow more comfortable with their own toes. "Never again," cried American parents everywhere, "Will we hide our toes from our children!" (Of course, they backtracked a bit on that come wintertime, but you get the point.)

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