SHOPPING for children's shoes must be the least enjoyable way to spend a Saturday.

It is not that the staff are unpleasant because they usually always are very jolly.

But it is every other part of the experience which makes the heart plunge and your bank balance quiver when your child says the words "My shoes are hurting".

It was Daisy who uttered the dreaded words so off we went on Saturday to get her feet measured.

It is a universal truth that the longer you have to wait to be seen by an assistant the less likely it is your children needs new shoes.

So perhaps it was foreshadowing when I picked up a ticket bearing the number 50 while the digital display was emblazoned with the number 35.

Heart sinking quickly into my own shoes, I noticed a few discarded tickets on top of the machine, no doubt pulled out by a bored toddler trying to kill a bit of time.

Having got the closer but not so close number 41 I held on to my ticket for dear life.

Nobody could tear it from my grasp lest I lost it and had to return to the back of the queue.

No way was that going to happen, I once missed an assistant calling out my number and had an irate man shouting at me like I hadn't spent the past hour in a packed shoe shop intently listening out.

Here we were sat again, listening intently, Daisy having chosen the shoes she liked a long, long ago.

Another inevitable truth about children's shoe shopping is whenever there is a bit of a queue there will be at least one person making a big song and dance about the length of time it is taking.

They will probably have waited for less time than you have and will no doubt be directing their gripe at a poor Saturday girl who will do her best to explain the situation while looking terrified.

At last, our number was up, the shop assistant had to prise the ticket from my fingers which had seized up where I had clamped onto it.

The measuring took about five seconds.

A half an hour wait, three games of eye spy and endless chats about different kinds of shoes, Daisy's feet hadn't grown.

They checked over her old shoes and said they were fine.

These boots were definitely made for walking.