Lace ups or velcro??

[bizzey]

Ex dh doesn't agree that I still let ds's wear shoes with velcro and I should be teaching them to use shoes with laces everday !

My point is WHY !! T her are shoes that make lives easier /quicker for all of us and eventually they will do lace ups (ds1 can on his football boots )...

In fact shoes can go from velcro to slip on !

BTW exdh never had anything to do with school run or understanding of how quick they have to get changed for PE before we separated (well he did ..but didn't listen !)

Ok should point out now ds's are not toddlers 11/9/7 yrs

I am teaching them in my own time lace ups ...but in that quick minute before PE !!! They would panic !!

[lljkk]

Lace tying is an old fashioned skill, like remembering 20 different phone numbers, darning socks or using a slide rule, which would have seemed essential skills at one time. I really don't see the point in making an issue out of it, either (I say that as an middle-aged gimmer myself).

DS is nearly 13 and has locklaces rather than learn to tie his laces for PE.

[bizzey]

Tapir..ds1 is size 5 ...so I agree they cant be that babyish...I have asked ds1 and he shrugged and said some had velco and some had laces ...oh and some had slip ons ..for pe and school....

No one has taken the piss out of anyone (yet) for what type of shoe they wear

[TapirBackRider]

Bizzey - my ds is the same size, and many of the children at his high school wear velcro shoes to facilitate easier changing at PE times. The uniform code says nothing about lace ups v velcros, only that the shoes are a specific colour - it's a non issue as far as he and they are concerned.

Tbh - I let him wear shoes that are comfortable, hard wearing and fit well; how they do up is the least of my concerns. (I think that some people have their own issues with it that they project onto their children....)

[squoosh]

Lace tying is an old fashioned skill?

Really?? Most men's shoes are lace ups.

Why on earth would a 13 year old not know how to tie their laces? So odd.

[Almostfifty]

Oh for goodness sake!

My sons could all do shoelaces by the time they were five. They could do their zips up on their coats, put their coats up and do buttons, all by the time they went to school.

If you're too lazy to be bothered to do this, then that's the reason why playtime ends up being half the time it should be, cos teachers and their helpers spend this time showing children how to do this.

They are skills parents should have taught their children before they go to school. They are skills most children are capable of learning easily by then.

[lljkk]

Because he was suicidal at age 10 & lost confidence in everything about himself for a while. There are still certain areas I have to tiptoe around. Is in adult men sizes now and still no trouble getting velcro shoes for everything except cleats and walking boots. It's an excuse to ask pretty girls to tie his laces now, I think, on the boots.

Lock laces work quite well.

[DowagersHump]

I agree with iijkk. What is the point nowadays of being able to do laces when you're 5? My son can put his coat on, do his zips and buttons but I've never bothered teaching him to do laces because they're not relevant to his life.

He'd whup your arse at Angry Birds though

[DowagersHump]

lljkk, even

[pointyfangs]

I think your exH is using this as a stick to beat you with and you should ignore him. Lacing shoes is not a life skill, and they will get it in the end. My DDs have been able to do laces for yonks, but until recently their shoes were a mad mix of methods - and I expect their winter boots will be zip-ups again anyway. Being able to do laces isn't some rite of passage, technology has marched on.

[TapirBackRider]

Lacing shoes as a life skill? Hah.

Manners are a life skill, along with using cutlery, wiping your arse properly and other civilised things. Laces is a skill, but it won't kill them not to learn it!

Loving the whole 'not being able to do laces = lazy child/parent' thing.

[McHappyPants2012]

velcro is not baby shoes

btw laces are not old fashion. Converse are in atm

[squoosh]

It sounds like it takes a hell of a lot more effort not to learn to tie your laces.

[Rosa]

Up until 11 when I was at school slip on gym shoes were regulation .... From secondary white trainers were regulationand then they were all laces... Yes its something to learn , like doing a tie ..essential when you need it.

[TapirBackRider]

"Essential when you need it", yes, but not essential for school shoes, trainers or other types of footwear these days.

Is it that difficult to understand that other people's experiences may be very different to yours, and that some children are not necessarily as capable with these things?

[ClippedPhoenix]

it still boils down to the fact that kids should be able to tie a sodding lace at primary age. Anyone that backs up the fact that they shouldnt needs their fluffy lazy little heads testing.

[TapirBackRider]

Thanks phoenix I'll pass that on to my ds - I'm sure he'll appreciate your lack of understanding.

[snooter]

They do become speedy with laces pretty quickly - son now 14 has had laces since aged 6 because his skinny, shallow & flat feet just wouldn't stay in shoes with velcro. He is left-handed & had no success learning from right-handed me - luckily left-handed Granny was staying & helped out!

[mathanxiety]

There is no way your children should not know yet how to tie their laces. It's not rocket science. In the DCs' school they were expected to do it at age 5 at the latest. The teacher sent a note home to parents who hadn't taught their children to do it about two weeks into the year at that age.

As long as your child doesn't have a SN that would make it a really difficult proposition, failure to teach them a simple skill like tying laces is up there with not teaching them to wipe themselves properly after a poo.

The point of a child doing it is to not hold up the class when they're off to PE or heading out to play, and not monopolise a teacher or TA who could be doing something related to his or her actual profession and not stuck playing handmaid to an able bodied child.

From the intellectual pov it is a great hand eye coordination skill, a skill that involves using both hands co-operatively, using left and right hands.

[TapirBackRider]

Fortunately not everyone agrees with you.

It is possible for children to not have SN, but not have the physical ability to do something like laces.

[ShellyBoobs]

...most of us wear long sleeved Tshirts not blouses with buttons. How many DHs leave their shirts done up?

What a strange lazy world you live in.

How many men leave their shirts done up? I'd hazard a guess at somewhere between none and virtually none.

Do those who do also wear elasticated ties and trousers with elasticated waists?

[TapirBackRider]

What is this obsession with inability to do shoe laces/buttons = laziness?

Are there really so many people unable to comprehend that children are all different, and some may have a problem with things that others find easy?

[picturesinthefirelight]

I'm amazed you can actually find lace up shoes to buy for kids. Dd is 11 and ds is 8 and they have Velcro shies because it's all I can find in their size.

Dd can do laces as she is a dancer and for shows has to do quick changes between jazz tap and ballet shoes. Ds can't as he has never had any need to tie laces.

They do both have small feet for their ages size 10 for ds and size 13 for dd.

[DowagersHump]

I'm really struggling to see why this is an issue. DS wears slip on school shoes from M&S and plimsolls for PE. His inability or otherwise (for all I know, he can tie laces, I've just never bothered to find out) doesn't 'hold up the class when they're off to PE or heading out to play', nor does it 'monopolise a teacher or TA who could be doing something related to his or her actual profession and not stuck playing handmaid to an able bodied child'.

Do your kids go to private school where they have to wear lace up shoes or something?

[Nellabutterfly]

My dad still can't tie a "normal" bow, and he's in his 60s (does some odd-looking workaround). If they have the need to learn (and no issues around coordination) they will, or find some way around it!

[WorraLiberty]

I love velcro shoes and those elasticated school ties. They're great when you have infant aged children.

But once they're in yr 3, they really should have been taught these things.

I think we get lazy to be honest