No shoes, please

I enforce a strict, no-shoes-in-the-house policy in my home. Everyone in our family walks around bare- or stocking-footed. If my kids are playing outside, and need a quick bathroom break, but don’t want to go to the trouble of untying and retying their shoelaces, they need special dispensation from me, and have to wipe the bottoms of their sneakers vigorously on the outdoor mat before entering, which is why I often catch my son tip-toeing into the house, trying to bypass all the red tape.

Parker, the family dog, has use of the outdoor facilities, so he doesn’t normally have to sneak back in, but on the other hand, he gets paw-checked when he’s been playing in mud or sand. He hates the delay because he desperately needs to rush into the house to check if his empty dog dish erupted any food while he was away.