Traction

With the snow making its way down the mountains, comes winter and with winter comes ice and the absolute need for parents to wear shoes with proper traction. Your carried/worn 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. You can also go to the hardware store and buy some hex screws and stud your own pair of shoes or boots. I recomend using and old pair that you can dedicate to being your studded tires.

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. Some 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. 

There's always an extra pair of pull on grippers in my car should I need them to make my way across an icy parking lot!