The other day I stopped at the shoe store for a new pair of tennis shoes. The kids were with me so they wandered around the store. Of course they each found a pair of shoes they thought they needed as well. Truth was the boys did need new shoes so I was easily swayed....almost. Jared picked a pair of converse. Totally acceptable shoe except for one thing - he coudn't tie his shoes. It isn't that we hadn't tried in the past, we had. We had sat on the couch several times and his little fingers just flopped lazily and he would say he couldn't do it. I never pressed. Between velcro, slip ons and shoe laces you don't actually have to tie I figured he would be fine for a while.
So, we sat at famous footwear and I made a deal with him. I will teach you how to tie your shoes and you have to tie them all on your own 5 times and I will buy them for you. At first I thought for sure I would be saved the purchase of the shoes. Nope, he was determined. Unlike all of the other times when he didn't see the point - this time he had a goal, a reward within reach. He finally got it and sat there and tied and untied them five times. He was so pleased with himself he wore the shoes right out of the store.
When I was 4 I taught myself to tie my own shoes. I tied my brother's shoes for several years before he decided having his little sister tie his shoes wasn't something he wanted to to do for the rest of his life. My other two picked up the shoe tying thing pretty quickly - each by the time they were 5. I'm now able to say that all 3 of my kids are shoe tyers (if that's how you even spell that)!
1 comment:
awww that's so cute, good for him! (you mean you didn't use candy to bribe him, like me? hahahaha) that's awesome though. we haven't even touched the shoe tying thing here, we're still on velcro. but that's such a cool milestone! haven't the faintest who taught me or how I learned, either!
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