duct tape

Monday after school, Ryan says, "Mom, can I have some duct tape?"
Me: "Why?"
Ryan: "I have a hole in my shoe and I need to duct tape it."
Me: "Are you serious? We just bought those, they're Nike. Let me see your shoe."
Upon examination, he certainly had a hole in the underside of his shoe where the big toe is. So much for name brand shoes! He's been walking around feeling the cement, dirt, wet, etc. with his toe, for who knows how long! Of course I gave the kid the duct tape and let him have at it since I didn't have time to go buy new shoes right then. Of course he has a field trip the next day too, which requires extra walking around. So anyway, he happily duct tapes the shoe and heads out to play basketball. Tuesday before school, I notice the duct tape job was kinda scrunchy on the top, so I grabbed the shoe to give it a good sturdy duct tape job as well as improve the looks for the school day. As I'm peeling off the old stuff on the top of the toe, I realize that the bottom pieces of duct tape have been worn clean through and there's the lovely hole in all its glory again! I gave the shoe an extra dose of duct tape and sent him on his merry way for the day. What must his teacher think -- parents letting a kid run wild with duct taped shoes? Oh well, it was probably better than the alternative -- flip flops or bare feet. Sunday shoes would never be tolerated, by Ryan, of course, so that's not even an option. I finally made it to the store on Wednesday morning and now Ryan has 2 new pairs of shoes -- one for now and one pair waiting for the next shoe emergency. I honestly cannot believe how fast that kid goes through shoes (literally).