Tying Shoes

Category: Safe Haven

Post 1 by Caitlin (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Saturday, 25-Dec-2004 23:20:38

Hi Guys, For the longest time, no one really taught me how to tie shoes. I would always just ask people to tie them for me. Then when I was about six, I found my own way to tie them. At first, I would just knot them up into a mess. But then, I figured out anther way to ge the resulting ties to loo kjust like the ones that every normal person made! Lol! I still tie my shoes this way to this day, and when people see me doing it, they're always like, "Oh, you've got a knot there, let me help you," and I'm like, "No, no, this works!", and they'll look and go, "Well, I'll be darned, it does work!!!". Lol... so ... do any of you guys have anythign to say about this? Caitlin

Post 2 by krisme (Ancient Zoner) on Sunday, 26-Dec-2004 1:13:08

It took me most of my life and many lessons in occupational therapy before I could propperly tie shoes. It was ok when I was little but I got embarrasing when I was nine or ten, so I made an effort then and learned.

Post 3 by Caitlin (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Sunday, 26-Dec-2004 16:51:20

Lol yeah same here, I got embarrassed so I made my own method of tying them. Hehehe. Caitlin

Post 4 by wonderwoman (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Sunday, 26-Dec-2004 20:43:00

Hi Caitlin and all, well for the longest time, I couldn't learn to tie shoes, although my mom tried to teach me. When I was 17, and in a hospital where they weened me off of the leg braces, a physical theraphist taught me to tie them, but she taught me in a different way, which I couldn't describe it, but she said everyone had their own way of tying shoes, and if anyone tried to teach me to do it in a different way now, it would mess me up. Now they have these bad shoe strings that don't stay tied for long, and that's really irritating, and might be dangerous, if I step on an untied string the wrong way.
wonderwoman

Post 5 by Caitlin (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Sunday, 26-Dec-2004 20:47:10

Yeah my shoes are always coming untied. I can't really describe how I tie it either. Basically I take the two laces and cross them, then loop the top lace over the bottom one on the cross, and pull both ends, so that I get a half knot thing. Then I do the cross thing again but keep one part of the lace tucked under instead of pulling it away. So then I get the whole knot with half the side of the bow. Then I just tuck the other side in and pull at the closed ends to tihten the knot, and then knot the closed ends. I don't think that made any sense, but oh well ...
Caitlin

Post 6 by Caitlin (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Sunday, 26-Dec-2004 20:50:13

Oh and the result looks just the same as the "normal way" does.
Caitlin

Post 7 by Japanimangel (Account disabled) on Monday, 27-Dec-2004 9:50:12

well, I learned how to tie when Iwas like 10 or something. Before then, I just wore slip on shues, or valcrow ones. I felt so silly lol!

Post 8 by south park fan (the Zone BBS remains forever my home page) on Tuesday, 18-Jul-2006 12:28:24

Hey all, I didn't learn how to tie shoes until I was 21. I know that is a bit late in life. lol I guess I've always been afraid to ask somebody to teach me. Somebody did try to teach me once but they gave up because I guess they thought it was taking too long. Now, I can tie shoes but every now and then I have trouble.

Post 9 by Amethyst Moon (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Tuesday, 18-Jul-2006 13:47:57

I'm so glad I'm not alone in this! I never learned how to tie my shoes until I was 13! Dad had constantly tried to show me the absolute one way he knew how to tie shoes and i just didn't get how it could work like that! One day I was in Adapted P.E. in high school and the teacher had gotten tired of me asking peer tutors to tie my shoes since it was holding up the class a little bit. One of the peer tutors wondered if I had ever heard of the bunny ears method and I said I hadn't, so she showed me that and that's what I've been using independently ever since! You basically start with a knot, then you take the laces and fold them over in your hands so they're loop shaped or bunny ear shaped. You tie the loops in a knot and it looks like a bow. I always make sure I double tie the loops so it stays in that bow shape.

Post 10 by motifated (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Tuesday, 18-Jul-2006 17:47:25

This is interesting. I didn't learn till my 20's either. I agree with the last post about doubling the second knott (crossing the loops, pulling one under the other, and crossing the loops again.) This is the only way I've found with longer laces.

Post 11 by bozmagic (The rottie's your best friend if you want him/her to be, lol.) on Sunday, 06-Aug-2006 7:11:11

I didn't learn how to tie my laces either till I went to secondary school when I was 11 and we had to wear black lace-ups as part of our school uniforms. I'd always worn those little toddle shoes or sandles with the buckles when I was at Dorton House. I started out a bit like Caitlin, tying them in knots and getting them in a right old mess, then, one afternoon, Gran gave me one of her shoes with laces and I spent most of the afternoon, tying the laces like she showed me. Cross the laces over, tuck the right one under the cross shape you just made, fold the right lace in the middle to make a loop, wrap the left shoe lace round where your fingers were holding the right shoe lace to keep that loop shape, then tuck the left shoe lace through the right loop, which will make another loop on the heft. There! You've tied your shoe laces. For a double knot so they won't come undone, just do like I said at the beginning and cross the two loops over. I can tie my laces from start to finish, in less than ten seconds now.

Post 12 by bozmagic (The rottie's your best friend if you want him/her to be, lol.) on Sunday, 06-Aug-2006 7:15:24

Oops, I meant left in the last post! Anyway, to make it easier for the kiddies, either follow the above guide to tying shoelaces, or you can buy self-tying elasticated shoelaces. You just have to cros them over.

Post 13 by Reyami (I've broken five thousand! any more awards going?) on Monday, 02-Apr-2007 21:46:37

Or, they now have these shoes withoug shoelaces, so you don't have to worry about tying them. I could probably still do it, but it's been a while since I wore my shoes with the laces on them.

Post 14 by changedheart421 (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Monday, 02-Apr-2007 21:55:48

Hello
Uh I learned to tie when I was 5. Lol, this board is pointless.

Post 15 by shea (number one pulse checking chicky) on Tuesday, 03-Apr-2007 0:25:34

hmmm, i also learned to tie when i was like four or even younger. heheheh

Post 16 by bea (I just keep on posting!) on Sunday, 14-Oct-2007 10:44:43

I was like 18 years old and had learned how to knit. The same concept of putting the strings over and around were the same as knitting. I stopped knitting a long time ago but am glad I learned out of the experience from my aunt how to tie shoes. the bunny ears concept sounds like a good idea but the shoe laces out there now are not made good like somebody said. I do like velkro on the shoes though too.

Post 17 by Reyami (I've broken five thousand! any more awards going?) on Wednesday, 28-Nov-2007 2:43:34

Tying shoes is one of those things you just have to keep practicing until you can do it without having to think about it.

Post 18 by Harmony (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Thursday, 29-Nov-2007 3:55:21

I didn't learn to tie my shoe laces until I was 12, but before then people used to tie them for me or I used to where shoes without laces. I had to learn to tie my shoe laces eventually, though because I was going to camp with the guides and I had to wear walking boots which had really long laces. Now, I can tie my laces fairly quickly. I cross the laces ends over each other then fold the ends over to make loops and cross the loops over and under each other. I hope that akes sense.

Post 19 by Siriusly Severus (The ESTJ 1w9 3w4 6w7 The Taskmaste) on Saturday, 09-Feb-2008 19:24:37

I had no clue how until one day, a sub in my third class saw me tying my shoes, and I couldn't damn do it! Well, so she decided to use my recess and her break time to teach me. I didn't mind, and was greatful. She sat with me the whole recess, and she taught me outside against the building. She was really patient and Kind. I still clearly remember her to this day. I mean she taught regular education too, so... Thanks to her, I can tie my shoes really well. Well, so, that's my story. Lol! I use slip ons so I don't have to tie them.

Post 20 by Reyami (I've broken five thousand! any more awards going?) on Friday, 08-Aug-2008 15:08:25

I need a new pair of shoes before school starts. Hopefully, I'll get one with laces, so I can get back in the habit of tying my shoes. I don't know. The slip-ons I were now, don't have good arch support for my feet. I found that out the hard way when i went to guide Dogs for the Blind, and had to do a ton of walking. Man, did my shins hurt.

Post 21 by robbiec12345 (Good night and Farewell ) on Wednesday, 27-May-2009 15:07:17

well even now, i still can't tie shoe laces. i just try to either avoid shoes with laces or get other people to do them for me. hopefully i'll be able to do them soon!

Post 22 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Wednesday, 27-May-2009 16:42:39

Well, this board proves interesting. I didn't know this was a problem. I learned to tie shoes like anyone else I guess, five or six years old. The challenges came when it came to teaching my daughter - she can see, but I doubt sight has anything to do with it. My wife would get understandably frustrated when I'd go and just tie our daughter's shoes rather than work with her on learning it. All this to say probably some people learn it easier than others, whether blind, sighted or three-legged frog. But also with so many slip-on and VELCRO shoes out now I can see how a kid would grow up not knowing how. Any parents have trouble showing their kids how? Maybe it was just that much quicker for me to just do it when she was four or five. This is all new to me; never even heard of this being brought up ...