A few days ago we were lucky enough to spend the afternoon at the launch of the book "Pasito a pasito" 👣 by our dear paediatric podiatrist Neus Moya. ❤️
Her book tells us everything we need to know about how children's feet develop: it's a guide that shows us how to look after them as they grow. As she puts it herself:
"A child's foot isn't an adult's foot in a smaller size; it's a foot that is still forming and needs to be cared for in a specific, individual way."
In one of the chapters she talks about how to cut toenails properly, something that seems trivial but raises plenty of questions for parents and can cause little ones pain. Here's a summary of her advice:
- For the youngest, filing is better than cutting. Their nails are so small and soft that filing is usually enough, and it avoids hurting your little one with a bad cut.
- If you do cut them, use straight, round-tipped scissors so you don't nick them.
- Don't cut them too short: leave a little of the white part so you don't catch the skin (when you think you could cut a bit more, stop).
- Cut them straight across and smooth the edges with a file if needed; this helps avoid ingrown toenails caused by the nail growing badly.
For Neus's book launch we set up a table where children could explore their feet through play 🥰. We loved it so much that we want to share the "how to cut your nails" activity with you so you can do it at home. We prepared some smiling feet and some coloured nail-shaped stickers for the children to cut out, stick on the little toes and decorate however they liked with colours, glitter, stars… It was great fun!
We were completely smitten 🤤 watching children of all ages having fun, choosing whatever they liked and mixing materials, making the game their own. Feroz families all around let them experiment freely: not a single "not like that!" or "careful, don't get paint on yourself!" was heard. They simply enjoyed every moment.
Here are the downloads:
If you can print the nails on sticker paper, perfect; if not, add a glue stick so they can stick them on after cutting them out. With this activity we want to encourage children's independence and exploration through play: so they become aware of their feet and nails, learn to cut them themselves, make it a normal habit through fun and avoid problems such as ingrown toenails caused by poor technique.
