No. Don’t let gear be your barrier to getting out on a trail. Nature time is the priority. However, gear can make nature time last longer and be more enjoyable. Cheaper sneakers often don’t have quality treads and wear out quickly; this might lead to your child slipping more or not being able to climb steep rocks. So if you want to be more adventurous I would recommend some gear (check out my article on all my gear recommendations here. We get our kids 3 quality shoes: adventure sandals, hiking shoes with strong treads and warm waterproof boots, and that's it (for the year). Now, if you have an atypical kid like mine, they could do a whole hike in bare feet. We recently hiked 3 miles in Bryce Canyon and my son did it barefoot to the surprise of the other hikers. We had his shoes, but he picked no shoes so we went with it.