Learning to tie their shoes is a rite of passage every child has to go through. However, when it comes to teaching the process to your child, adults can get a little frustrated because the process has become second nature to them.
However, parents are not the only ones who get frustrated when learning this crucial life skill. That means that two people are frustrated, and that makes for a tense situation.
How do you overcome the hurdles of teaching your child to tie their shoes? We have some great ideas on that, but first, let’s talk about that frustration.
Why Is It So Frustrating?
There are several reasons your child feels frustrated when trying to learn how to tie their shoes. The biggest reason is the fact that the task requires their fine motor skills to be top-notch. This may be a problem, as most small children are still developing these skills.
This may be why the most popular way to teach children is to use the two-loop method. It is the easiest way to tie their shoes and requires fewer fine motor skills.
Do This, Do That
On top of that, the instruction of the process becomes a “do this, do that” situation, and this can confuse the youngster’s mind. You can overcome this by breaking the steps down and using very specific words in these steps.
Instead of doing this, you can say, “Grab one lace with your right and the other with your left hand.” Be as detailed as possible, and take the steps slowly. These two things will lessen your child’s frustration and yours, too!
Tips To Teach Your Child To Tie Their Shoes
There are even more ways you can make this process less frustrating, and there are a few things that you can do to reduce the stress and difficulty so that your child has a good experience. Above all else, make sure you are prepared with multiple methods to tie their shoes.
If the child has difficulties with one method, you can always try a different one. You can even find a method that you don’t know how to do, and then it will be like the two of you are learning at the same time.
As for physical things you can do to make the process easier, you can make sure the shoelaces you are working with are soft and easy to hold. You can also use a marker to indicate where your child should hold the laces.
Concluding Thoughts
There are many options to help your child learn this skill. By taking your time to set everything up well and reduce limited frustrations, you will be able to overcome those hurdles when teaching your child to tie their shoes.
