To buy velcro shoes for my 10 yo DS?

[oriel2013]

Overheard football mums talking about how there's no way they'd buy velcro shoes for their DS. Our children are still in primary school at the moment but some have older DS's who've gone to secondary school this year. Consensus was they'd look 'ridiculous' in velcro shoes.
It's not occured to me at all, my yr 5 and yr 3 boys both got velcro shoes in September and I'd probably look at the same again next year, it's easier and they are happy with them.
I'm now wondering if this is a 'thing' or just these mum's opinions? Don't want my sensitive lad getting picked on at secondary for my lack of thought!

Are these quite a solid close? Ie would they work for a child running around a lot?

My 5 year old has size 12.5 feet and it's getting harder and harder to find him velcro trainers that fit his massive wide feet. As a leftie with significant fine motor delays I very much doubt he'll be tying laces for several years yet

I wish people read the bloody post. She is NOT suggesting they'd wear them at secondary!
Do they have issues tying laces or is it just easier?
We tried to get our ds lace up shoes when he was in y4 but he really disliked them. He could do laces but due to suspected dyspraxia, his laces, even with double knots, would not stay fastened. He had velcro for all of primary, as did several friends, and had no issues with others at all.
I was concerned about secondary but he has lace ups (many lads have slip ons) and just slides them on and off rather than doing the laces each time.

Unless your DS has SEND-related needs, he really should be able to cope with lace up shoes well before starting secondary.

I visit lots of secondary schools and there are many children in Y7 and 8- boys particularly- who wear velcro fastening shoes.

@SummitOfMountWashmore yes they do them in different strengths too.

DS is 9 and now wears lace up because the Velcro ones don't come in his size. He doesn't have particularly big feet either.

DD20 is dyspraxic and has velcro trainers. She has tiny feet so the trainers are children's Sketchers with false laces and a velcro strap that hides the fact that there is no bow in the laces. She can tie laces but does it very awkwardly.
I volunteer with a uniformed organisation and over the years I have regularly had to tie laces for children who are wearing lacing shoes but can't actually tie their laces.

I have also dealt with children who have been sent to us with their shoes on the wrong feet. I asked 5 year old who had put the (lacing) shoes on that night; the reply was "daddy". This week we had a child wearing boots on the wrong feet; parent arrived to collect child with child's twin in tow and the twin had their wellies on the wrong feet.

Edited to add that I regularly see older adults wearing shoes with velcro.

Elastic laces all the way. My son used this till he was well into his teens and no one ever said anything about them.

They are a bit childish. People will think they haven't been taught to tie laces

Next used to do big size velcro. Not sure if still do.

I took my year 9 son to buy new school shoes today and he chose velcro ones, now I'm worried he might get bullied because of them, although I can't really see why. I don't think kids care as much about that kind of thing any more.

His feet are size 9 by the way, so very much an adults shoe.

Some kids don't have any choice

Not everyone can do laces.

Lots of children simply aren't capable.

This thread is a bit of an eye opener to how many parents simply don't give those with additional needs any thought at all.

It's as if it's not even on people's radar.

No way I would put a child over 6 in Velcro shoes unless they had sn's of some kind. Some of us went to school before it was invented and we tied laces (and ties) from 4. My girls had buckles from 6/7 and laces on their trainers

This is so strange to me. I don't live in UK. Threads like this make it seem like a very hard and harsh place. Kids bullying each other over how they fix their shoes? And much more than that - the tacit agreement from many of the adults on this thread that, well, it's a bit weird to have velcro shoes at that age.

I wondered if I was being naïve, so I asked my kids (12 and 15) if anyone would notice or care about velcro shoes at school. They were both baffled and agreed that no one would notice or care. And then we started to talk about bullying and mean kids, and they said that while they definitely have mean kids at school, there is no sense of picking on the weak or different kids. A kid who can't tie his laces at age 11 would never be bullied for that. The rest of the class would not allow it.

So can mine, but he prefers velcro. And I have done. Currently I have lace up ones but they're elastic laces.

ETA - neither he nor I have been bullied for this.

Mine is nearly 17 and in college, and he was moaning the other day about how they don't do velcro trainers in a size 11 🤣

I am 48 and I wear velcro shoes 😂
Yes I can do laces - but velcro is quicker and doesn't come undone.

My dc is adult size 8 and has got velcro ones from Clarks.

Id expect a 10 yo to tie shoelaces tbh

Excellent

I would love some because my laces come undone constantly and I hate tying them and having to double knot them.

Lots of brand name trainers come with velcro though. Puma, Adidas, Vans, etc..

I have also never heard anyone bullied because they had velcro shoes over laces and sounds more like something juvenile adults would be judging than actual school children

I think this is a ‘mum thing’ with the women you heard op. Some people like to jump on any little thing that makes their child seem superior. It’s pathetic behaviour. Their kids may well be the bullies, it makes me so cross.
As many have said, shoes come in all styles and sizes now, and people will have preferences as well as whatever fits their feet and also conforms to school rules.
I see all different styles of shoes at both primary and secondary, and to my knowledge there has never been bullying over shoes. Actually not over Sen, or ND kids, or other disabilities. It would be social suicide at DDs secondary to bully anyone for this as that’s just not on. These kids are all about inclusion.
The mean girls will trash talk each other over make up or music, but never disability. If someone needed specific shoes, that would just be that.
I do favour an elastic lace myself though, much easier to put on with aging joints 😁

The uniform policy at the secondary school we're hoping for doesn't allow Velcro shoes so we got DS lace ups for year 6 last summer hols. He could tie them tight enough, but fairly slowly, so we got lace ups to give him y6 to practice practice practice so it becomes second nature by the time he's going to secondary and has to have lace ups.

DS in Y7 has velcro shoes. He is hypermobile / ADHD / ASD (also very bright) and we’ve been trying to learn to tie laces for years and he’s not got any better. Something about the sequence of steps and spatial understanding as well as lack of finger strength.
He wears Velcro trainers for sport, so the only issue is his football boots, which I couldn’t get in his size with Velcro (and he doesn’t have the hand strength to pull on/off the ones with sort of elastic socks/sleeves) - however he has lovely friends who help him with his laces when he needs assistance. Zero bullying. But maybe he is just in an exceptionally nice cohort of boys!