Here’s how LI kids reacted when we wore two different shoes

We decided to wear two different shoes one day, to see how kids would react to something unusual, such as different shoes on the same person. Brian wore a dress shoe and a sneaker. Brendan wore a snow boot and a flip-flop. Seventeen kids noticed Brendan’s shoes didn’t match, and 11 kids noticed Brian was wearing different shoes.

Brian’s first favorite reaction was, “Are you wearing two different shoes?” Like they were surprised. (I’m guessing they were — I mean, I would be too.) The other was, “Uhhhhhh, why are you wearing two different shoes? Could you not find the other match or something like that?” As if they were confused. (Again, they most likely were.)

Brendan’s two favorite reactions were as follows: “Did you break your foot?” (The snow boot must have looked like the boot cast some people wear after they break their foot.) And a weird stare by a fifth-grader got us some laughs.

The total number of kids who noticed us doing this strange two-shoe experiment was 28. It was a very fun, funny and silly experiment. Kids most likely noticed Brendan’s different shoes because of the much larger difference between a snow boot and a flip-flop.

Brian Harvey’s sixth-grade class, Minnesauke Elementary School, East Setauket