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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Can your 9yr old.....

71 replies

spottyshoes · 11/02/2009 12:26

Tell the time and tie their shoelaces?

Just wondered if it was reasonable to expect them to be able to do these things by that age?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

willali · 11/02/2009 12:58

laces - no (she a left hander, me a right hander who can't work out how to show her!)

Time - sloooooooooowly getting there

flummery · 11/02/2009 12:59

Yes to both, and I think that if a concerted effort has been made to teach both then it's not unreasonable to think they'd get the hang of it, but it's not a disaster if they haven't.

I wouldn't expect them to know it if I hadn't taught them to, if that makes sense.

cory · 11/02/2009 13:01

Ds 8- struggles with shoe laces, but then he has joint problems (I still struggle with shoe laces for same reason)

Getting better at telling time; dd was def able to do it at this age.

FAQinglovely · 11/02/2009 13:02

oh and I don't think it is "being taught" thing particularly - especially with shoe laces.

DS1 was "taught" - 2yrs ago how to do them, but really didn't get the hang of it at all, despite repeated attempts, and "practising" regualrly.

This time round he's really grasped it and 2 days after first being "guided" through the process was doing them confidently (and fairly quickly) on his own,

bloss · 11/02/2009 13:05

Message withdrawn

wheesht · 11/02/2009 13:12

Willali, my youngest dds are both left handed and like you couldn't teach them to tie laces. They have adopted their own way which works perfectly - after making the first knot they form two large loops with each of the laces and tie the loops together to make a knot. Does that make sense?

Original poster

spottyshoes · 11/02/2009 13:18

Mixed views then. I asked my step son the time last night and after about 10 minutes he stood on his bed and brought me through the clock off his wall to show me. I was a bit as I started teaching him to tell the time a couple of years ago but DH took over. (it's numbers, it's manly dontcha know ) Just thought that that particularly was something they would teach early on in school ??? Maybe not then.

The shoe thing has bugged my for years as I started teaching him that at 4 and he still hasn't mastered it (I must be a crap teacher!)

OP posts:

TrinityRhino · 11/02/2009 13:20

dd1 - 9 at the end of march

time, got the hang of it a couple of months ago

shoelace - hmm, getting there but she hasn't had meny lace up shoes

Grammaticus · 11/02/2009 13:22

Yes. Both as well as an adult. They're NINE fgs, it's not rocket science.

sundew · 11/02/2009 13:22

Same here - dd1 (8yrs old) never had shoes with laces so wouldn't have a clue, but she can tell the time (though not 24 hr clock). All children are different and usually learn these skills if there is a reason ie new footy boots they want to wear - or a watch for christmas (for my dd1 )

Bink · 11/02/2009 13:23

Does he have other issues, spottyshoes? (Bringing you the clock to show you suggests he might.)

Doobydoo · 11/02/2009 13:30

Time yes.
Shoelaces no...but we haven't really shown him how to tie them...have been in last week though!

Original poster

spottyshoes · 11/02/2009 13:31

Erm, not sure what you mean Bink, but he will never be the brightest star in the sky bless him.
Also his speech was terrible and I couldn't understand him when I met him at 3 but no-one used to talk to him so it was hardly suprising. He went to a speech therapist and although it's much better (as you would expect at 9!) There are still a couple of sounds that he mixes up so sometimes its still hard to decipher what he's saying. Is that the sort of thing you meant?

OP posts:

iheartdusty · 11/02/2009 13:31

I am 43, have years of post-grad education, and I have difficulty telling the time. ( I get confused in the last 1/2 hour - the clock shows just over 10 minutes before the hour..is that 2.49 or 2.51 for example. It's something to do with relating the visual to the numerical)

but I can tie my shoelaces.

TrinityRhino · 11/02/2009 13:31

thanks for that grammaticus
missed your empathy pills today? lol

hannahsaunt · 11/02/2009 13:32

Ds1 is 8yo and here they are taught to tell the time at school in P2 so v competent at both o'clocks and 24h clock.

He's never had any need to learn how to tie shoelaces ...

Original poster

spottyshoes · 11/02/2009 13:32

Must admit I thought the same as Grammaticus That's why I came on here to check....

OP posts:

idobelieveinfairies · 11/02/2009 13:33

Thats good to hear iheartdusty.....its not as easy as Grammaticus thinks for some then

FAQinglovely · 11/02/2009 13:36

well I was taught the time when I was in Yr1 - however I did really "get" it until I was much older.

And as for my shoes laces - well I can do them up - but they never seem to stay done up

notagrannyyet · 11/02/2009 14:25

Like others have said these things vary from child to child and I suppose there are more digital clocks around now which are obviously easier to read than a traditional clock face.
My eldest 2 could both tell the time with both ordinary and roman numerals before they started school. The other 4 DCs learnt in years 1 or 2. Their year 2 teacher set learning to tell the time as a summer holiday homework task for any of their classmates who couldn't.

DD wanted to tie ribbons on her teddies at 4 I failed to teach her how but eventually DH did. They are both left handed so maybe that helped. She could have tied shoelaces from day 1 at school but didn't need to because she had buckled shoes. All 5 boys struggled with laces youngest 3 all started secondary school with velcro shoes.

neversaydie · 11/02/2009 14:29

DS is nine and a half. He has been able to do shoelaces for the last year and a half. He is OK on telling the time (Mummy it is 5.03 can I get up now...) but on reflection I suspect he is happier with a digital clock than a dial.

Has been able to ride a bike since he was 6, but quite honestly I think that the timing was as much due to opportunity as anything else. We taught him to swim the same summer because the best place locally for rides is along the canal towpath, and I decided that made swimming an essential life skill.

TheInvisibleManDidIt · 11/02/2009 14:29

Tell the time yes.

Tie his laces- no. He refuses to learn. Bought him lace up trainers so he'd have to, and he won't wear them. (he can be very stubborn)

Ds2, 7 next month can tie his.

They can both ride their bikes, but we go on alot of cycling days during the summer, so they both learnt quite early on.

SixSpot · 11/02/2009 14:34

Telling the time - yes.

Shoelaces, I'm ashamed to say he's never had a pair of lace-up shoes, so we haven't even tried .

pluto · 11/02/2009 14:35

Shoelaces - yes, but takes him a bit of time and they aren't always as tight as they should be. Have returned to velcro fastenings for school shoes for this reason.

Time - yes.

cikecaka · 11/02/2009 14:37

Time - Yes
Shoe laces - no (her dsis could at 8 because she was doing Irish Dancing and had to learn quickly as teacher couldnt keep tying them)

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