The BEST gift you can give a primary teacher is giving them a class full of students who know how to tie their own shoes. Seriously…The End.
It may not seem like that big of deal.
But, make this movie in your mind…
A student has their laces undone…
The teacher just bends down and ties them quickly and moves on with their delightful day.
Only they don’t…move on…because for every one untied shoelace, there is another. It’s what some refer to in this business as “a pair”…
And for every pair, there are usually 10-20 more pairs patiently waiting behind that not such a big deal little lace that was initially waiting to be tied…
It’s what some refer to in this business as “a domino effect”…
And as moms we can confess and call out a few mamas out there in jest who have opted to ignore this little life lesson by investing in what some in the business call “lazy shoes”…AKA velcro. 😉
As Moms, we could drive our soccer mobiles from here to Velcroland a million times a day, but as teachers we have to stop the bus…
One of the first assessments we give our new class is the
Great Shoe Tying Challenge
We made that up…Sounds important, huh?
If we have a student who needs to give their laces a little love, we send home a Shoe Tying Take Home Kit. We’ve gathered a few shoe tying books over the years and we stick one along with a parent note and incentive sheet into a zipper pouch bag and give them 1 week to loop those laces so they last!
Most of them get a little help from their families and they’re on their way. A few don’t and we make sure to spend a little time teaching them this life skill ourselves at recess or in between activities. Why?
And we believe kids deserve to feel proud.
Plus, it is kind of weird for 18 year olds to still be asking their parents to tie their shoes.
We’re just doing our part…
Have a few folks who need to sharpen their shoe tying skills too? You can grab our family note and send them on their way!
