What age could your boys and girls tie their shoes with no help!

[Anonymous]

We tried teaching DS at 5 and he couldn't do it. Tried again at 7 and he learned easily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take your child to Shoe Train in Cabin john Mall and ask them to teach her. Our son learned from a book, our DD, 15, still uses the Shoe Train method- something about a rabbit running around the tree and down through the hole...

Really? Do you outsource all parenting?

DP. Don’t be an asshat, pp.

My kid’s OT taught him. When it comes to driving lessons, I will proudly outsource that too.

[Anonymous]

Np but this makes me feel better. Ds just turned 8 and is hopeless On his shoes (and we haven’t really bothered trying to teach in at least a year). He’s pretty severely adhd, and that corresponds with motor skill problems - so I’ve slays blamed it on that. But nice to hear it’s a neurotypical issue too. Issue for us is that ds is super tall with big feet and around size 3 the shoes all stop being available with Velcro. I found a pair of nikes with Velcro and all the reviews are from people saying they buy them for their autistic kid who can’t tie shoes, so I was definitely feeling like ds was seriously behind the curve on this. Makes me feel better! I have enough things to worry about with him that I just can’t stress about shoe tying.

[Anonymous]

I’d take him to Nordstrom or Shoe Train and see if someone there can help. Nordstrom has shoe tying events periodically. Maybe someone else has the right method or words to help him understand. Maybe he just hasn’t refined his small motor skills yet. Either way, I hope (for your sanity) he gets it soon, but if he doesn’t, don’t worry, he will eventually.

[Anonymous]

First grade teacher here. Only a few kids can tie shoes in my class but part of this is because nobody teaches them at home. We mention that we don’t tie shoes at school and that is something parents can work on at home. They all think we teach this at school. Anyway, buy your kid Velcro shoes for school. We don’t have time to tie shoes. At home, have them wear shoes with the little holes and then watch this video. Over the years, kids’ fine motor skills have gotten worse due to lack of practice with play doh, cutting, using crayons, pencils. markers, etc so very few kids are able to tie their shoes.

https://youtu.be/QJVR8hHBQyM

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Np but this makes me feel better. Ds just turned 8 and is hopeless On his shoes (and we haven’t really bothered trying to teach in at least a year). He’s pretty severely adhd, and that corresponds with motor skill problems - so I’ve slays blamed it on that. But nice to hear it’s a neurotypical issue too. Issue for us is that ds is super tall with big feet and around size 3 the shoes all stop being available with Velcro. I found a pair of nikes with Velcro and all the reviews are from people saying they buy them for their autistic kid who can’t tie shoes, so I was definitely feeling like ds was seriously behind the curve on this. Makes me feel better! I have enough things to worry about with him that I just can’t stress about shoe tying.

My kid has size 4 Nike running shoes we got at Dick's Sporting goods online, they are completely slip on and the best. Save a ton of time.

[Anonymous]

My daughter did it at 5 too! She was in K tying everyone else's shoelaces for them. We had a book but ultimately she learned using a running shoe with really long laces.

My son is also 9 now and still can't. But he has very neat writing (people think it's adults writing) and can do one of those marble- 60+ hole labyrinths. It's like he just can't coordinate tying though. Or maybe just doesn't see it as a necessary skill.

[Anonymous]

My DCs learned at 5 because their Kindergarten required tie shoes as part of the uniform, and they expected the children to be able to tie them.

I know this is uncommon, because on the soccer field the refs were regularly stopping play for untied shoes, and then refs and coaches would run to tie the shoes that needed tying. Between 9-11 it shifted from "most kids can't tie shoes" to "most kids can tie shoes" at least for the field sports my children participated in. I didn't really notice any difference between girls and boys ability to tie. It just seems to be a skill that's shifted later as velcro has become common for a shoe fastener.

[Anonymous]

Kindergarten. Remember when Velcro closures weren't available? Teach your kids to tie their shoes.

[Anonymous]

I learned in first grade and so did my kids. We started in K with teaching them but they all spent 6 months tying them in knots saying they already knew how until they finally wanted to learn for real. My daughter is in K now and we started teaching her and she’s already saying “I already know how.” , so it’s probably going to be first grade for her as well.

[Anonymous]

Both our kids (B,G) were able to tie their laces at 4. They've always been very ahead of the curve in every aspect. I feel bad for the parents of kids in the median.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both our kids (B,G) were able to tie their laces at 4. They've always been very ahead of the curve in every aspect. I feel bad for the parents of kids in the median.

Older poster here. I am surprised at the ages given here.

I was probably early at 3 and a half, but certainly everyone I went to kindergarten with could tie their shoes.

Of course there were larger families then and no slip on shoes so there was more of an imperative.

Both my kids could do this before kindergarten as well, and I definitely thought of this as a pre-kindergarten skill, but now I am thinking I was definitely behind the times.

[Anonymous]

Could? Around age 6. But at 9 they still run around with untied shoelaces most of the time, because they just can't be bothered to stop and tie them, and when they do finally tie them it's such a rushed job that the bows fall apart in 15 minutes, even if double-knotted. And don't get me started on forcing their feet into and out of the shoes with the laces still tied.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:9. Kids are different. Stay calm. It’ll come soon.

+1

[Anonymous]

My boy was 6, but now he's 7 and still isn't great at it. They are tied, but loose and floppy.