My oldest had a terrible time trying to tie his shoes, and someone showed me what turned out to be much easier for him. I think I can describe it.

Tie the first knot as you always do - one lace over the other, then under and through. Then make one loop in each lace, one loop in each hand, and tie them in the same kind of knot - one loop over, under and through, and pull until it tightens. You can adjust the length of the loops and ends just as you do when tying the "normal" way, and untie just by pulling one of the ends.

I hope you can visualize this, or just try it. Tie the first knot the way you always do, make a loop in each lace and tie it the same way you tied the first knot.

My son found this much easier than making one loop, wrapping the other lace around it, etc. Don't know why, as they seem equally the same to me, but that's because I don't remember the time when I was learning how to tie shoes.

By Trina on Saturday, February 15, 2003 - 09:17 pm:

Thanks, Ginny! Actually, we've tried this approach with DS but he still can't tie his shoes. Argh! He's in 1st Gr. and excelling academically but can't tie his shoes. As a former teacher I'm a little embarrassed by this but I guess it'll take him a little longer, just like potty training did. I fear his little sister may beat him at this accomplishment. Thank goodness those sport mocs are in style now! LOL!

By Ginnyk on Saturday, February 15, 2003 - 09:59 pm:

Well, there's always velcro. Which is nice - what I had to get for my son was shoes that had a sort of hinge thingy - you lifted up a leather tab that had a metal bar and hinge under it to open the shoe, and pushed down on the tab to "close" the shoe. My dear mother, when her arthritis got really bad, really liked the velcro sneakers. She got really good at sliding her foot into the shoe and using the other foot to push the velcro closers - I'm not sure how she did it, but she did, and was so happy to have velcro.

Also, I have seen elastic shoe laces - where you are supposed to be able to lace up the shoe and tie it, and then just slide in and out. Don't know how well they work.

Also, boys are usually slower than girls in developing "fine motor control", from everything I've read and heard, and shoe tying is certainly a fine motor control activity - as is printing/writing and coloring inside the lines. (Hey, maybe that explains why they can't aim well enough to get inside the large circle of the toilet rim? - but not why some men never develop that "fine motor control" skill.)

By Cat on Saturday, February 15, 2003 - 10:13 pm:

Trina, Robin's a very bright kid and didn't learn to tie his shoes until almost 3rd grade. Heck, he's in 4th now and still likes me to tie them for him. For him, it just wasn't important and wasn't interesting, so why bother to learn.

I was just talking to a friend the other day, and the shoes now don't velcro--they zip! lol (although, they still make velcro)

Ginny, good job at describing that method! It was very visual!

By Trina on Saturday, February 15, 2003 - 11:36 pm:

Actually DS has very good fine motor skills. He's a lefty, has beautiful penmanship and loves to draw detailed pictures. SO, his fine motor skills aren't the problem. Sounds like he's more like Robin. He does try though but gets very frustrated and gives up. He'd rather enter sports stats into Excel or design greeting cards and calendars in Print Shop. LOL!

According to DS velcro shoes are for "babies" and aren't "cool". Slip on shoes, like the ones pictured below, are popular now.

By Jewlz on Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 12:07 am:

lol ginny i just taught a 3 rd grader how to tie his shoes teh same way ... but with a story about bunny ears ... u make a bunny hole ( the initial cross over ... then u make two bunny years and cross them and send them criss cross to make a silly bunny and then he will hide on the other side of the hole ...look out the hole goes thru the fence and he can still be seen lol sorry if i confuse u all sorta have to be shown in person... try to put ginny and mine posts together lol it works really