A Case of the Lazy Mom

I try not to be. But more times than I care to admit, I have to admit I am a lazy mom. Case in point: teaching your child how to tie his own shoes. What is the appropriate age for a child to learn how to tie his shoes? I think they should start learning in kindergarten and be proficient maybe by first grade. This was true for my youngest. However, it is only true because he was motivated to learn. He asked for the skill to be demonstrated, watched, practiced, and exerted his independence by doing it himself (even if we were running a little late and I was ready to jump in and just get it done myself). My oldest is finally learning to tie his shoes, and he is (I am embarrassed to say) in the the fourth grade.Yikes! How did I let this happen? The answer--I'm lazy, of course. It was far too easy to keep buying velcro shoes. We have talked about needing to work on this skill together for years. I thought I was committed to making it happen this summer. I had a plan--a plan which quickly fell apart the moment summer began. Right before school started I bought Todd a pair of tie-shoes. We agreed that this was it. It was time for him to learn how to tie his own shoes. And he has. Only he is not using the traditional method. Brett recently taught the whole family a new way to tie our shoes. It is supposed to be much more effective at staying tied. I agree that it seems to be a stronger knot. It is a little awkward, but I prefer using it to tie my own sneakers. So while I am lazy, apparently you can teach an old dog some new tricks.