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My not so conventional thoughts on shoe tying

Confession--I did not teach M to tie her shoes until 2nd grade.
Defense-  I also did not buy her shoes that tie until then.  Why bother?  To me it was too frustrating and I knew that even if she COULD do it she would still take the lazy way out and ask other people to do it for her, therefore I decided to save everyone the trouble and just not deal with it AT ALL!

Does it bother me when kids come to school and their shoes are untied?  No, not at all, but you won't see me tying them either.  I do however teach them to tuck them in in a nice and safe way, they can also opt to ask a friend.


Comments

  1. T is started second grade, and he still cant tie his shoes. His old school expected him to know before he entered kindergarten, I tried working with him but he would just get sooo frustrated with it, it never worked out. We're trying it again, and this time around its going much better, but he would still rather take the lazy way out :)

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  2. That is an interesting idea! I may have to implement it.
    I have had, on one occasion, had a mother FLIP on me because we did not teach shoelace-tying in kindergarten. "How can MY daughter go to first grade if YOU did not teach her to tie her shoes!!!!"
    I kindly told her that we would support any shoe-tying attempts, shoelace tying is not a first grade requirement and that kids learn to tie shoes at different times, just like riding a bike.

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  3. The most interesting part is they will problem solve this one. I see them do things such as tuck them in, tie the shoelaces themselves and sometimes asking the custodian to tie them (which makes me chuckle every time). I think responsibility starts in two places; their shoes and their library books. (another post idea!)

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  4. Ha, ha!!! I do the same thing. I refuse to tie shoes. They just come undone again. I teach them to tuck the laces inside too. :)

    Ms. M
    Ms.M's Blog
    A Teacher's Plan

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