One of the most frustrating things as parents is teaching their children to tie their own shoes. One of the most frustrating things for children is to learn to tie their own shoes. And for both parents and their children, tying shoes is a major milestone towards self-confidence and independence.
My experience is that most parents avoid or postpone this milestone by purchasing shoes that either slip on, use Velcro straps, or have those curly, springy laces.
I think you should start on this as early as possible, but not with the goal of mastering it immediately, taking it slowly, in small steps, over time. I believe you should start early, teaching it in steps, for three reasons:
- Tying shoes develops critical small motor skills in the wrists and fingers. And small motor skills take time and practice to master.
- Tying shoes develops critical thinking skills and memory. There are several steps which must be performed in an exact sequence.
- Tying shoes teaches concentration and patience, key things that have been proven to best position children for success in school and beyond.
I think we can agree the benefits far outweigh the effort. So now that you have decided to tackle shoe tying right now, teaching your child to tie their shoes in a step-by-step manner, here are three things that may help:
- Use a Lacing Board to show the steps and practice – here is a video that may help.
- Use two-colored laces – take two laces of different colors, cut them in half. Tie them back together as a two-colored shoelace and lace the shoe up so that one side is a different color from the other. This may help your child visualize the steps.
- Use an adult shoe on a table to practice – a bigger shoe might be easier.
There are three common ways you can teach to tie the bow knot. They are: the traditional or circle method, the bunny ears method, and the double knot method. Here is a video that shows all three done by a child. Easy Peasy.
