At what age should a child be able to tie shoe laces and ride a bike?

Question

my son is 6 years old in 4 weeks and he can do neither. We've tried teaching him both but when he cant do it he totally gives up.

Answer 1

I have never been able to tie my shoelaces whilst riding a bike and I'm 40!!!

Answer 2

It is very hard to ride a bike and worse tie your laces both very technical things when I was small you had shoes that had left and right on the tops of them so it was easier than these days you also had like a wooden shoe on the wall that had laces in them and you could spend an hour each day leaning to tie your laces bikes are harder cause you have to keep your balance as well as hold up the weight of the bike and ride fast enough to keep it going so give the boy a chance he do it eventually.

Answer 3

3

Answer 4

I'm not sure of the average ages, but I'll tell you my experience:

An uncle taught me how to tie one loop on my shoes when I was 6. I was so happy to do that one loop, and it paved the way for the normal double-loop which I probably learnt a few months later. Maybe you could teach your son just one loop at a time.

For biking, I had training wheels until about the same time. My dad would hold onto the bike while I'd try it without the training wheels. He must've known what he was doing and one time he just let go without my knowledge. That was a good one. He probably realized that I had enough balance to keep going on my own. I can't remember how far I got, but I looked back and there I was biking without him holding, biking on my own. From that moment I had the faith that I could do it myself, even if just a short while.

Answer 5

My daughter learnt to ride her bike at 5 years old but at 6 years 4 months cant do her shoe laces.

Answer 6

dont worry about it. My daughter is 6- 7 in two weeks- and it was only last fall she learned to tie her shoe laces- she still cant ride a bike without training wheels- i think a lot of that is the fact we used to live in apartment buildings- and never had a place to ride a bike... im hoping this summer she can learn to ride it since were in a house with a nice long flat driveway..

Answer 7

I would have thought about five. I don't know about bikes but my kids had small ones with stabilisers on which they eventually discarded. Can't really remember how old they were .6or 7. As regards shoelaces I know that it was felt a child should be able to tie his shoes before starting school, in those days at five,as they had to change footwear for P.E and games. There again children vary enormously in many ways. When they start to talk, when they take their first steps ,when they no longer need nappies and so on. If your child has achieved these sort of milestones at a reasonable age then I don't think you have too much to worry about.He has been at school now for a couple of years so how has he been progressing? This will give you a reasonable idea that there is nothing really wrong.

Answer 8

all children learn to tie laces at different ages, have you tried teaching your son the same way you learnt, i remember an old shoe box with a ribbon when i was little, as for riding a bike put stabilisers on the back wheel and he'll get the hang of it, he just needs time.

Answer 9

they are all different my son could ride a bike and do laces
at 4 - his sister 15 months younger could ride a bike at just
over three but was five with the laces - my last daughter
rode a bike at about 4 -5 but shoe laces eluded her till
she was nine
you can buy a shoe lace thing in early learning centre -
don't make a big thing about it - never seen and adult who
couldn't tie laces - ps my first husband could never ride
a bike and i have a girlfriend who can't - its a balance
thing - maybe get him a skate board to give him some
confidence - its not the end of the world - presume he can read and write - so nothing much wrong just maybe a little bit
"cack" handed

Answer 10

My son is 6 and can't do either. But I don't think it's neccessary to look at milestones for each and every thing as long as your child is pretty good overall. Since we were the first of our friends and family to have kids, I wasn't aware of what he should be doing when. So I didn't think it was unusual that he didn't know how to use a spoon at 3, but I didn't think it was unusual that he was reading chapter books on his own at that age either. He's in 2nd grade now and fits in well with his classmates, even without the shoe tying and bike riding.

Answer 11

My girls are 6 & 7 and they can both ride bikes without training wheels and tie shoes. Their incentive to learn to ride their bikes was because they wanted to take the training wheels off of their dirt bikes. The shoe tie thing was difficult for them. The oldest finally caught on and the youngest, I gave up on her. Then my neighbor spent 5 minutes with her and she was tying like a pro. Go figure! lol Try having other people teach him different ways to tie, maybe one of them will click and practice, practice, practice!
As far as the bike, hold onto him and run with him, so he doesn't fall. When he finally masters that and you can no longer keep up with him, have him ride in the grass only. My girls learned at 4 and 5 and so far we have only had one major wipeout, but she got right back on. Good luck to you both!! :)