Traction

With this freezing rain comes the absolute need for parents to wear shoes with proper traction. Your child is only as safe as you are. Ice grippers, cleats, crampons or studs are all ways to keep yourself and your little ones out of harm's way. Weather your on the trail, walking your neighborhood or simply carrying you child out to the car they are a necessity. If you fall, so does your kid. It is also important if you are pregnant.

Many stores around town offer reasonably priced gripper/cleats that you can attach right to your shoes or boots. While other shoes you can buy locally or online, such as Icebugs, already have built in studs. Skinny Raven will put studs in the shoes of your choice for free if you purchase a pair from them or they will charge you a reasonable $10 (at least that was the fee last year) to put studs in a pair you bring from home. If you know a senior citizen, they will do their's for free.

I love my Icebugs. I just wore them on super slick sidewalks walking or should I say being walked by my big lab who pulls like heck and I felt totally secure. The only downside is the cleats are permanent. I need to be totally prepared to leave the house when I put them on or otherwise they would do some damage to my wood floors if I walked around the house with them on. They do have rubber around the studs though so that if you were to go into a grocery store with them you won't slip and fall once you hit the tile floor which is the downside of cleats/grippers.