Tieing their own shoelaces

[KateandtheGirls]

How old were your kids when they were able to do this? Just wondering what the average and age range is.

Thanks

Ds1 was 6 - though we recently had to have a refresher course as they kept coming undone.

Ds1 is 6 and we are still on velcro for shoes and trainers. Haven't even considered laces.

Ds1 has velcro for his school shoes as he'd be there all day tying them otherwise - we can be a bit more patient at the weekends!

My daughter is 5 and she got new trainers at the weekend, and desperately wanted "tying shoes". (I would have been much happier with velcro.) She doesn't seem to be anywhere near tying them by herself.

The reason I'm asking is that I've become aware (from this board) of dyspraxia, and she seems to fit a lot of the symptoms (one of which is being slow at this type of small motor skill). So I was wondering if it's normal not to be able to do it at her age.

DS is now 7 and still can't tie laces. Has velcro fastenings on trainers and shoes. Bit like trying to ride a bike (strange you might think) but my DD (now nearly 12) could never tie her laces until she rode a bike.

DS can nearly ride a bike (can ride it but can't stop it - falls off to stop). Dexterity thing I think.

ahhh, good tip marthamoo. maybe we'll introduce laces next time he needs trainers - which will be in about a week at the rate his feet grow

5 is still very young, k&tg, so i wouldn't be concerned at that in itself (don't know what your other worries are, obviously). Have you sat down next to her and got her to do it over and over and over? That's the only way it sunk in with ds1. It is quite a tricky skill to master!

We just started doing that MM, and I think she understands the theory, but she just can't get her fingers to coordinate and do it all. You have reassured me some what though, so thanks.

Someone gave me a good tip which is to start them off on a shoebox with a nice big thick lace through it to practice on. Not so fiddly for little fingers.

Just found this website. Apparantly the average age is 5.5. It also says the average age for buttoning and unbuttoning is 4 - she certainly can't do that yet either...

Thanks stickynote. I'll try that.

DS has only just learnt to do this (he was nearly 7 when he did). The motivation was the start of a football club after school, meaning that he had to learn to tie his own football boots because I wouldn't be there to do it for him. I started him off with tying bows in a thick piece of cord around him, then moved on to the finer smaller shoelaces once he'd got the hang of how bows work.

Hi all
DS1 (now 6) started school at 4 unable to put socks on or button/unbutton. He mastered both by 4.5. He rode bike with training wheels by 4, haven't tried without....He has just this week started to skip with alternating feet - I read somewhere that 6 was the "outer age" of normal variation for this. Wouldn't even dream of trying to teach him laces.
He also has poor handwriting/fine motor skills and seems to fit many of the dyspraxia symptoms - though was early to average with pre-walking motor milestones (sitting, crawling, pincer grasp, walked at 12 months etc).
I know more children of his age who can't tie laces than who can, though maybe this is coz none of us bother because of all the great velcro shoes around.
So I wouldn't worry about the laces at all (though I have to say I do now start to worry about the knife and fork/eating business in our household.....)