Is there an easy way to teach my six year-old daughter how to tie her shoes?

Question

I know this is a silly question but I am having trouble teaching her to tie her shoes. I don't have the patience to do it as a single mom. There is no dad around. She needs to learn and it begins with me. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

With my daughter it was just practice, practice, practice. But I can remember being a kid and having a difficult time learning to tie my shoes. While at my Grandparents one weekend my Grandma tied a shoe string around the back of a chair. I sat facing the chair and tried over and over and over until I got it. For some reason it was hard for me to learn on a shoe, but I was able to get it using the chair. After I got it that way, I had no problem learning to tie my shoe.

Answer 2

Children develop the dexterity to do it at different ages, by 6 she should be able to do it though..

Choose one method of lace tying, and teach it consistently. Make sure that everyone who may be trying to help your child learn this skill is offering the same method. Otherwise, she may get confused.

Start with the simple 2 loop method as it is easier for little hands, Once she has that down pat then try teaching her the normal/grown up way.

Have Her Sit Next to you when you are teaching her so she is watching/copying your movements and not trying to Mirror them.

You can also sit behind her and "help" her fingers along so she gets the hang of it.

It's gonna take time and because it can be trying on your patience don't try to teach her when you are getting her dressed to go out..

Take a little time every day to work on it with her, Praise her when she gets it right; but try not to show frustration when she doesn't.

Once She has learned how to tie her laces correctly, move on to teaching her to Lace them too. You wouldn't believe the amount of people I have seen that have no clue how to lace their Shoes.

Good Luck =)

Edit: Another thing you can try is having 2 different color laces in the shoes she is learning on, that way she can distinguish one from the other when she is tying =)

Answer 3

The best solution is velcro, or shoes that do not have laces to tie. If she isn't getting it, then it will just frustrate the both of you. As a single mom, don't sweat the small stuff. My daughter learned in preschool from some of her friends. And now she barely wears shoes with laces anyway.

There's also a website (and books) that show you different ways to tie so you could tie them once in the morning and be done with it. Have you seen Big Daddy with Adam Sandler? The kid knows how to tie his shoes, but it takes so long that it's not even worth the skill.

Good Luck and enjoy your kids

Answer 4

I taught my youngest sister how to tie her shoes. Start with the double loop method, where you make loops out of both ends of the lace and then tie them together. She learned quickly. Eventually you can teach her the proper method, but the first one is easier to get the hang of.

Answer 5

teach her one step at a time. show her the first part and have her go practice. once she's go t that down, show her the next step and have her practice that. keep going like that until she's learned the whole process. it worked for mine. took about two days, but was really much easier than i expected and she never got overwhelmed or frustrated, which is important in kids trying to learn anything new.

Answer 6

Well I had a lot of problems too whenI was younger and when I was about 7 my grandmother brought me this really cute book that gave you simple step by step instructions with a fake shoe and a real shoelace on the back to practice. I could understand it by myself and it was so fun!

Answer 7

Yup, i did that with my daughter once.

Kids these days dont really pay attention to what their parents try to teach them, but if you put an attracting goal in front of them, they would be eager to accomplish any task.
For example, i told my daughter that i'd buy her her favorite toy, IF she spends at least 30-60 minutes on practicing. It took her 20 minutes, no breaks, just plain practicing, and she got it! She's faster than me now! hah.

Anyway, goodluck. Give her a goal that she'll want so much, that she'll do anything do get it.

Khodr.

Answer 8

Does she have a young cousin or a friend that will show her? I learned how to tie my shoes when my best friend taught me (I taught her how to zip her coat). Sometimes kids will listen to other kids when they won't listen to an adult.

Answer 9

its not silly, I have to go thru it too, or tried, sit behind her and let her watch or get all the shoes in your house with laces and practice practice practice, velcro shoes have made it easier to delay this, and sandals and crocs.

Answer 10

when i was younger there was this doll......and i would carry it around and my mom would tell me oh no her shoes are untied can you tie them. i mean it took me a lil to get it but it worked. they should probably still have a doll like it.
good luck :)