Today during the on-line church service, the children’s ministry teacher started the children’s moment talking about skills we learned to do, but don’t really think about how we do it anymore. The idiom, “like riding a bike,” was mentioned. Then she started talking about learning to tie her shoes.
I don’t remember much of the lesson after that because my mind was filled with the memory of childhood traumas. I suffered much over tying shoes. Try as they might, mother, father, teachers, friends, etc … no one could teach me the “correct” way to tie a shoe. You know that way where you make a single loop, wrap the loose end around the loop, and by some magic spell you pull a loop through somewhere and and presto tied shoe.
Even as an adult I don’t get it.
As a kid, I was always derided by adults, and other kids for not being able to learn the proper way. Oh, I did find away to tie shoes – you just make two loops and tie them together like a granny knot. It works. My shoes stay tied, most of the time. If you look closely at two shoes, one tied the correct way and one tied my way, you’d be hard pressed to tell which method was used to tie the knot.
I managed to grow up, but when it was time to tie my shoes, I always tried to do that in a private place, away from judgmental eyes. It became a great skill of mine – hiding how I tied my shoes.
While I was researching for this post … yes, I did some research for this post. The internet is a weird thing and for the life of me I couldn’t exactly remember the “correct” way to tie shoes so I decided to look it up. I found one website that lists, complete with instructions, for 20 different ways to tie a shoe.
Anyway, the first method listed as the “Standard Shoelace Knot,” and explanation still doesn’t make sense to me. The second method – second – just want to emphasize that, “second,” is the two loop or “bunny ears” method or exactly the method I’ve been using since age five (or maybe six). And get this, when you look at the pictures of the two methods, the result is exactly the same final knot.
Take that shoe tier teachers.
Okay, there is a note that done incorrectly the bunny ears method can lead to an “unbalanced granny knot.” I’ll admit that sometimes I do come across as unbalanced or a least less than stable, but that’s a different post …
Looking at the list of shoelace knots, I find the “Turquoise Turtle Shoelace Knot” to be interesting and I just might learn that one. Maybe.
These days I tend to just avoid tying shoes at all. I mean I am getting older and it’s a long way down to my feet and I fear falling over while attempting to tie a shoe. When I can I have slip-on shoes or just take my shoes off without untying then and treating them like slip-ons. Not the best practice as over time it destroys the heal, but it’s how I’ve learn to adapt to my childhood traumas and fears.
But I think it’s time that I faced those fears and say out loud, “Where can I get shoes with velcro straps?”
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