Too Stupid to Tie His Own Shoes

[drwex]

This year in school they're teaching K to tie his shoes. Good, practical skill that. Pygment has gotten him some lace-up sneakers (as opposed to the velcro-close ones we've had in past) and he's digging right in. Except...

This morning we're in a rush and he comes to me for help with tying them. Now "help" means "show me how to do this" not "do it for me" (a notable difference between 6-year-olds and 3-year-olds, in case you were wondering). So here I am trying to show him how to tie laces and I realize several things:

(a) I've never taught anyone to tie their own shoes.
(b) doing this in mirror-reverse is harder than just tying something for someone else (like laces on the back of a dress or corset)
(c) I have no frelling clue how to explain what I'm doing. I resort to breaking it down to step-by-step with us passing the laces back and forth because I can't do it without laces in my hands, which leads me to realize
(d) the way I tie my own shoes is full of wasted steps and things I oughtn't do, like picking up one of the laces to make a loop when I'm just going to drop that loop anyway.

All day today my own laces have been coming untied, which I suspect is a side effect of me actually thinking about typing my shoes, rather than just tying them.

Which goes to prove I'm clearly too stupid to tie my own shoes.

Comments

[donnad.livejournal.com]

Learning to tie ones shoes ranks right up there with learning to tell time on an analog clock.

Have you showed him how to do it with you standing (or sitting) behind him and reaching around to the front of his feet. So he can see it as he would see it happening as he does it rather than in reverse?

Also the two loop method works. Make a loop with each lace then tie a simple overhand knot with the two loops.

[drwex]

The being-behind is a good idea, haven't tried that. Pygment uses the two-loops method. I use one that's roughly described as "make a loop, throw the other lace over it, then shove it through there."