Learning to tie shoes is a hurdle that can be tough for some children. If the child has weak fine motor challenges, it can be excruciating and frustrating for both parent and child. Here are a few guidelines.
1. Make sure the child has the necessary fine
motor skills necessary to be successful.
If he needs stronger fine motor skills then work on those first. In the meantime use velcro closures on
shoes. This will enable him to be
independent putting on his shoes. If
this is challenging, master this first.
2.Fine
motor activities can be found on many pinterest boards. I have several boards that cover fine motor
skills. A few activities to get you
started include: legos, stringing
anything from beads to fruitloops, pegboards, and hammering toys.
3.A
visit to an occupational therapist may be needed if fine motor skills don’t
improve much. Therapy could be the
answer. The therapist will give many ideas to help the child make progress
including things you can do at home.
4.Don’t
get into power struggles over this. If
he doesn’t have the individual skills needed (various fine motor) then it will
never work even if you yell and scream.
This is likely to make matters worse.
There is no shame in putting the idea on hold and reintroducing it a few
weeks or months later.
5.There are various ways to
teach tying shoes. Check out youtube
videos and many articles on line. I
taught two of my three children the bunny ears “fake” method. They did this for several years before they
finally were able to do the traditional way.
This
may be an easy road for your child but remember some of the items above if it
proves to be more on the frustrating side.
