Anonymous wrote:

To reduce your risk of getting warts in the first place:
-Wash your feet every day, using warm water and gentle soaps.
-Use moisturizing creams or lotions as necessary to avoid dry, flaky, or cracking skin. Treat any cuts or injuries to the feet promptly.
-Avoid wearing wet shoes and socks. Swap them at least daily, or even more frequently if they start feeling damp. Give shoes a full 24 hours to dry after wearing them for a day, or whenever they get damp.
-Don’t go barefoot in public, particularly in areas that are humid (pool decks, locker rooms, etc.). You should always have at least a thin layer of protection for your feet, such as flip flops or shower shoes.
-Don’t share clothes, unwashed towels, or nail and skin care tools with anyone else.

So, flip flops and shower shoes are important, as well as several pairs of sneakers so that you can air them out. My teen washes his sneakers pretty often in the washing machine. Also, you need enough socks to change it twice a day at least.

And posters on this thread being dismissive about shower shoes are simply dumb. Encourage your college kids to wear them and explain WHY. Yes, people really do pick up plantar warts and athlete's foot (which can actually be a stubborn, nasty infection, not a joke at all) in communal showers. Damn, some parents on DCUM think it's somehow "helicoptering" to talk about this stuff with their college-bound or college student kids. Nope, it's called sharing what you as an adult know, with your kid who has little life experience yet. But on DCUM, God forbid any parent should give one iota of advice about communal living to a kid who's never had to share a bedroom or bathroom with anyone but family.

Most of us have imparted that knowledge over the last 18 years and don't have to cram basic hygiene at the last minute. Yes, there are things to teach at the last minute but wearing flip flops to a communal shower is not one. Most of our kids have been at pools, gyms or sleepaway camps and have heard this before.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You wear flip flops in the shower. You towel dry after the shower. The tiny bit of water on the soles air drys quickly and with each step. It’s not a problem.

NP. This, above, is right.

The hall floors just aren't slick with water from showers. Also, to the OP, my DC's experience so far has been that students in the dorm take showers at ALL kinds of random times of day and night, so it's not like the halls are always awash in shower water in the mornings or evenings after masses of kids have showered at practically the same time. The shower use gets pretty spread out.

And posters on this thread being dismissive about shower shoes are simply dumb. Encourage your college kids to wear them and explain WHY. Yes, people really do pick up plantar warts and athlete's foot (which can actually be a stubborn, nasty infection, not a joke at all) in communal showers. Damn, some parents on DCUM think it's somehow "helicoptering" to talk about this stuff with their college-bound or college student kids. Nope, it's called sharing what you as an adult know, with your kid who has little life experience yet. But on DCUM, God forbid any parent should give one iota of advice about communal living to a kid who's never had to share a bedroom or bathroom with anyone but family.

Most of us have imparted that knowledge over the last 18 years and don't have to cram basic hygiene at the last minute. Yes, there are things to teach at the last minute but wearing flip flops to a communal shower is not one. Most of our kids have been at pools, gyms or sleepaway camps and have heard this before.

Anonymous wrote:Why are so many of you so mean? Even if it was an incredibly absurd question (it isn't). That gives you the right to ridicule a person asking for help? What goes through your mind when you type out your response-- if it makes a stranger's day a little worse, it was all worth it?

I'll take a mom who is concerned about something trivial over people actively making the world a worse place any day.

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Thanks. Neither my husband nor I ever experienced US college communal living. Sounds gross. This country is so rich, why on earth are dorms so uncomfortable and weird?
Oxford has a lot of private rooms and ensuite baths.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You wear flip flops in the shower. You towel dry after the shower. The tiny bit of water on the soles air drys quickly and with each step. It’s not a problem.

NP. This, above, is right.

The hall floors just aren't slick with water from showers. Also, to the OP, my DC's experience so far has been that students in the dorm take showers at ALL kinds of random times of day and night, so it's not like the halls are always awash in shower water in the mornings or evenings after masses of kids have showered at practically the same time. The shower use gets pretty spread out.

And posters on this thread being dismissive about shower shoes are simply dumb. Encourage your college kids to wear them and explain WHY. Yes, people really do pick up plantar warts and athlete's foot (which can actually be a stubborn, nasty infection, not a joke at all) in communal showers. Damn, some parents on DCUM think it's somehow "helicoptering" to talk about this stuff with their college-bound or college student kids. Nope, it's called sharing what you as an adult know, with your kid who has little life experience yet. But on DCUM, God forbid any parent should give one iota of advice about communal living to a kid who's never had to share a bedroom or bathroom with anyone but family.

Anonymous wrote:You wear flip flops in the shower. You towel dry after the shower. The tiny bit of water on the soles air drys quickly and with each step. It’s not a problem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are in for a long, long year if this is the type of stuff you are worrying about.

Not really. My kids have had three rounds of plantar’s warts. Ever hold a kid down while a plastic surgeon tries to cut out an unexpectedly deep colony of warts under a topical anesthetia? You don’t

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Thanks. Neither my husband nor I ever experienced US college communal living. Sounds gross. This country is so rich, why on earth are dorms so uncomfortable and weird?
Oxford has a lot of private rooms and ensuite baths.