Yesterday my son tied his own shoes. This may not seem like much of a cause for celebration since he’s almost seven but it was. You see, Tyler has worn Velcro shoes most of his life. I had all but given up on trying to teach him how to ties his shoes. I bought one of those little books with the shoestrings where kids can practice the fine art of shoe tying but frankly, Tyler wasn’t interested. He tried a few times but when he could not get the hang of it, he announced that he would simply wear Velcro or I could tie his shoes for him.
I had nightmares of bending down at his high school graduation to tie his shoes for him. Sometimes when we leave kids alone they progress without any help from him. The same thing happened when I was potty training him. Seems like the more I obsessed on it, the less interested he was in using the “big potty”. I tried it all including letting him run around naked. It didn’t work but he did enjoy the naked part. So much in fact, that one day he opened the door and ran down the street in his birthday suit.
Once I left him alone he pretty much decided to use the potty on his own. And he went straight from pull-ups to regular underwear- no training pants at all. And I can count on one hand the number of accidents he’s had since then.
When kids progress through these various stages they are so proud of themselves it’s heartwarming. All day yesterday Tyler talked about how happy he was that he could tie his shoes. He immediately called his father to give him the good news. We were at the mall later in the day and he told everyone who would listen about his accomplishment. His father and I both told him how proud we were of him. He was so pleased with himself, you would have thought he’d won the Nobel Prize!
As adults, we forget how good we felt when we did something for the very first time. Being a parent we get to experience these good feelings again when our kids accomplish various feats. Enjoy them while you can because the time really does go by fast.
See also:
Beware of Developmental Stages
Stop Doing for Your Kids What They Can Do For Themselves