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Life Lessons Tied Up In a Bow

by Janine Boylan on December 10, 2012

sneakers, showing life lessons on how to tie your shoes

© Janine Boylan

What I Learned from Tying My Shoes

I absolutely would not watch.

I was only about four years old, but I remember it like it was yesterday. For months, my mom had been trying to teach me a basic life lesson: how to tie my shoes. I, however, absolutely DID NOT want to learn from her.

Whenever she tied my shoes, Mom would tell me to watch. Instead, I would twist my head as far around as possible and cover my ears while still strategically keeping my shoes where my mom could tie them. I was completely and utterly annoyed that she wanted to teach me to tie my shoes.

One day, tired of her persistent requests, I thought of a way to end it for once and all. I tied my own shoes. Then I announced that she could stop trying to teach me.

Fast forward many years to my own four-year-old daughter. Not wanting to force feed shoe-tying, I would encourage my daughter to try to tie her shoes, but I never told her to watch me. She seemed to be making no progress with this life lesson, but I was patient.

One day my mom and my daughter were laughing and chatting in the back seat of the car as I drove along. About five minutes into the ride, my daughter joyfully exclaimed, “Look, Grandma taught me to tie my shoes.”

That’s not how I remember learning.

But, fine, at least my daughter knew how to tie her shoes now.

Fast forward again to the present. My daughter and I were watching Ted Talks and came across a video by Terry Moore on the correct way to tie shoes.

If the video does not display, watch it here.

As the video ended, my daughter said, matter-of-factly, “That’s how Grandma taught me to tie shoes.”

Oh, I see. I guess I should have let my mom teach me after all.

 

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