Tying shoes can be frustrating for parents and the child learning to tie. I know this first hand when my son was learning. He would just give up. We would work with him sun up til sun down and still nothing. We then resorted to a cute plush bear that helps children learn to tie, buckle, snap, etc. We tried teaching him the bunny ear technique and the way my husband and I learned, make a loop, wrap the other shoe lace around the loop , swoop and pull. After, many attempts at both techniques, he quit. So, we did what most parents do, and purchased slip on shoes, similar to these:
Our problem still wasn’t solved, and Gavyn still didn’t know how to tie his shoes.
I believe if I had something like Tie Buddies when Gavyn was learning, it would have been much easier, and he would have learned much quicker.
“Tie Buddies® was born in January 2007 by inventor and mother of two, Wendy Welling. As she lay next to her younger daughter, she kept thinking that there simply had to be a better way to help her children learn to tie their own shoes!
Inspired by both her daughter’s excitement – and their increased feelings of independence as they quickly learned to tie their own shoes – Wendy spent months fiddling with prototypes and ideas until finally perfecting Tie Buddies®. The key was to create cool characters and interactive stories that help the child learn and retain the process and as well as eliminating the frustrating ‘bunny ears or loops’ that just confuse children as they learn.
Thus in April 2007 this mother of two independent shoe-tying daughters created her own company, Widget Works, Inc, and launched Tie Buddies® into the market.”
I was sent a set of Tie Buddies for Zoe to start learning to tie her shoes. She is only 3, so we hadn’t even thought about it yet as Gavyn was in kindergarten when he finally got it down. But with Tie Buddies, children can learn as early as 3. The Tie Buddies we received have cute fairies and wands on them and are most girls favorite color, pink. They are simple to use. Here is a video of myself demonstrating, as Zoe doesn’t have the hang of it just yet, but I truly believe she will soon.
I think Zoe will learn shoe tying quicker then Gavyn did using her Tie Buddies. The Tie Buddies stop the shoe lace from going to far, so the loop stays formed. Gavyn always pulled to much which was his main problem. Once they are coordinated enough and get the hang of making two loops, shoe tying is a breeze. I like that you can challenge them as well with this. Once they mastered tying with both Tie Buddies, you can remove one, and then both.
Tie Buddies come in two patterns, the fairies with wands in pink for our princesses and the Red and Green Race cars in blue for our princes. Tie buddies are extremely affordable at only $8.99 plus S/H. I would recommend to anyone and they would make wonderful gifts. They are also mom invented! Connect with Tie Buddies on twitter and facebook and be sure to check out the site at www.tiebuddies.com
DISCLAIMER: This is a review based on my opinion only, yours may differ. I was sent a set of Tie Buddies to help facilitate my review. No other form of compensation was received.
They are very cool we have the car ones for the boys!
You are too cute, Nichol! I love the video, that made it much more clear on how these actually work. I think we have these somewhere in our house… I'll have to dig them out and let my 3-year-old give them a shot sometime soon…
those look pretty neat.
What a helpful product!