I think I need to add – how to tie shoes – to a master parenting schedule of mine.
But, I haven’t. And in my twenty years of parenting for some reason all of a sudden comes a day when my kids absolutely need to know how to tie shoes. And I have that oh no parenting fail kind of moment that happens.
Like this week. With my son Elijah.
And then we tried to tie his shoes. I tried to teach him. He got through step one. And every time that bring it around and push it through part came up he got really frustrated.
So I searched how to tie shoes and found this video.
And no joke.
Elijah learned to tie his shoes within the ten minutes.
And today, on the second day of school he was out the door with his shoes tied by himself.
I asked him if he can tie his shoes and he replied,
Yeah, it’s easy.
So there’s hope!
Just thought I’d share it – it’s kind of one of those finding joy twenty years later in parenting but maybe it will help another parent – maybe you in those shoe trying tying moments.
~Rachel
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18 comments
This just saved my life. Our seven year old twins don’t know how to tie shoes and it’s got me feeling like a terrible mother. Isn’t it ridiculous how something so trivial can make us feel so inadequate?!?
I am so glad. 🙂
OMG… I thought it would be a long video lol! Will try it on my 8yr old and let you know how it goes. Thank you for sharing 😉
Thanks for this. Our oldest is seven. Near the end of the last school year (Kindergarten 2.0 for him), his teacher was trying to get the kids to learn to tie shoes, but he just couldn’t get it. I never thought to try teaching him over the summer, partially because when he wore shoes, they were sandals with Velcro backs (okay, that and I am lazy; sometimes it’s easier to do it for the kid than to beat your head against a wall while trying to teach them something new). He only has two pair of lace up shoes but we will break them out this week-end and watch this video on repeat to see if he can finally figure it out.
I would hope kids can eventually improve on the 10 minutes it first takes to tie their shoes. Seems like they should be able to do better than that as they get used to the concept. 10 minutes seems like a lot of time to allocate every day.
I think the point is that it only takes them 10 minutes to learn 🙂
We saw this video a few weeks ago and still trying to get our 7 year old to tie his shoes! it is so frustrating. I think he is just having trouble with his hand placement when trying to bring the loops through. He refuses to practice, however, feels that he needs to try it on his way out the door on our way to school. Yes, it seems like a parent fail when all of the other kids in 2nd grade are tying their shoes and helping your child tie his too!
thank you so much!
My daughter just turned 4 but she learned how to tie her shoes last month. I think it’s common sense to teach them before they start school. But this way would have saved me the whole day I spent teaching her.
My son is 8 and has aged out of velcro….he is having a terrible time with the first step of tying shoes. I however find this method makes a pretty nice and tight knot that’s fairly difficult to get out, when you untie it. Am I doing it wrong?
It does end up being a pretty tight know afterwards — that is for sure the one fall back.
We found this method about a month ago and my 5 year old daughter caught on very quickly ! I was so relieved to find something that did not reduce us to tears…lol ! I wish that I had found this method 5 years ago for my son ! Thanks for sharing it on your blog , it will help so many parents !
I needed this. Kids can forget. I won’t tell you how old my son is but he needs this refresher.
I would like to add that a child being left handed is another skill set. I haven’t seen the video, but I feel like it would need to cover a left handed situation.
My brother is in his teens and even if he is technically almost an adult, he’d choose velcro (if he can!) or something made with fake laces just to get the “look”. Maybe it’s a matter of preference in the end?
Thank you for sharing this and yes it worked with my son ! He can do the laces himself now without any help thanks to this video ! And I love to see his sense of accomplishment ! One very proud boy and one very grateful mum
❤️❤️❤️🙏🏻
I just promised my son this morning that I’d teach him how to tie his shoes when he gets home from school today…this is s godsend!! Thank you!! I know he’ll be able to do it now!
I hope it worked, Karen. Good luck. 🙂