I have a confession to make. 
Velcro has made me lazy. My second-grader just learned how to tie his shoes this summer.
I suppose that I could blame this on the fact that his kindergarten teacher insisted that the children had shoes with Velcro fasteners (except for the girls, who could have "buckle shoes.") If I had 28 wiggly little people in my charge for 7 hours a day, I wouldn't want to have to spend 6 1/2 of those hours on my knees, tying shoes. And then first grade came along. No one seemed to care if the kids had those lace-up oxfords that the older kids wore, and Velcro shoes are just so much easier.
When I volunteer at the school, I spend enough time on my knees tying children's shoes to know that I'm not the only mom who hadn't gotten her child on the path to footwear independence. There were plenty of kids in his class that hadn't yet joined what his teacher called the Shoe-Tie Club.
But he's outgrown the Velcro shoes now, and it was well past time for him to get a handle on this skill. After all, he'll be learning to tie some knots in Cub Scouts this year, and anyone who's ready to do a clothesline hitch should be able to handle "bunny ears." So we got his school shoes a few weeks early and helped him practice. A few days of frustration (and more than a few thrown shoes) later, he's getting it done. They only stay tied for five minutes, but with more practice, he'll have the hang of it soon.
And then I'll teach him how to make a Double Knot.
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