Dealing with Shoelaces

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I really love those boots! The would go well with my suit of armor for the upcoming return to the feudal state!

I think we're already there.

I don't think I learned to tie my shoes until I was about 9 years old. I remember being in preschool, and they were teaching all us kids how to do it, but I didn't get it, and felt nervous about asking for help since I didn't feel like the teachers liked me that much. I just thought to myself, "This is just one of those things that everyone else can do, but I can't." For years, I tried to hide the fact that I couldn't tie my own shoes...I learned to slip my feet in and out of my shoes without untying them, would ask my parents to do it for me, or ask the teachers in private to do it. I remember having one recess teacher (who I don't think liked me much either) tell me, "If your shoes come untied, you're out of luck, cuz I'm not tying them for you again," (This, mind you, was a teacher at a school for children with learning disabilities and special needs) so the next time it happened, I tucked my shoelaces into the heels of my shoes....which quickly became a nuisance since they would come out as I ran, so I had to keep stuffing them back in. My mom tried to help me compensate for this by buying me velcro shoes and these cute little neon shoelaces shaped like coiled springs.

Then one night, my mom sat down with me and showed me how to properly tie my shoes, and after a few tries, I was doing it perfectly. I still don't know if it's because someone finally took the time to actually work one on one with me to teach me how it was done, in a loving and non-judgmental way, or if it was just because at the age of 9, I was finally coordinated/developmentally ready to try it.

I also used to trip on uneven surfaces all the time when I was a kid, especially uneven sidewalks....it's part of the reason why I always look down at my feet when I walk, rather than looking straight ahead.

I didn't start wearing slip-on Vans because of Sean Penn in Fast Times At Ridgemont High but they were a Godsend around the time the movie came out

I wonder if Spicoli is autistic?

Much like you, I was 8 or 9 when I learned to tie my shoes. It wasn't until one of my older sisters took the time to teach me how. Others would try to teach me before that, but it never stuck until then. I wore shoes with Velcro straps when I could; if my shoes came untied and nobody could tie them for me, I would just knot them up a bunch of times, because that's all I knew how to do. To this day, I will slide my shoes on and off my feet without untying them. I have a hard time in general keeping shoes off my feet, too--I always kick them off. It isn't uncommon for me to be sitting at my desk at work with one shoe dangling off my foot.

I don't get on with shoelaces. I know how to tie them, but I'm no good at it, no matter how much I practice with it. Lately they haven't been selling many trainers with velcro, and I've always found velcro so much easier. They sell some, but it's usually really cheap ones what give me awful blisters. I prefer to buy more expensive trainers, those stylish types, but finding ones with velcro are very few and far between.

Do they still make tennis shoes that zip up? I also remember having those when I was a kid and didn't know how to tie shoelaces yet.

Look in the chemists and mobility shops - I was in one yesterday for something else and noticed a whole aisle dedicated to footwear in a wide range of styles, and virtually all in velcro

I always try to tie my shoes once with a really tight knot then slipping them on and off. I tie work boots though my dad showed me a way to tie them where you use the lace and wrap around the top of the boot. then stuff can fall into your boot and it wont move so you wont get blisters