The Solution to Helping your Kids Put their Shoes on Correctly

A friend told me a funny story yesterday about how she would fight with her mother constantly when she was younger because she didn’t like when her mother would dress her up. She enjoyed putting outfits together, even if they were mismatched every way imaginable, she didn’t care because she was more excited about creating her own look. In the end, the fact she wanted to dress herself up showed how much she desired independence from her mother, not because she doesn’t love her, but because she wanted to feel she was an individual.

Kids love being independent. Today, I thought I would share a fun technique you can easily implement at home or in your classroom that helps kids put their shoes on the right foot the first time. The process of children putting their shoes on on their own also helps increase their fine motor and coordination skills too. All you have to do is make dots on the inside edge of each shoe or boot with a permanent marker. If you’re concerned about putting color on your kid’s shoes, you can always use washable markers or stickers. Then, tell the kids to “kiss” the dots and wallah, the shoes are in the right place for your kids to put them on correctly!

Give my shoe technique a try at home or in your classroom and please share how it worked for you in the comment section below. If for some reason you noticed your child/student was still having difficulty with my method, please contact me at cyndi@iseeability.com. I am chalk full of other great ideas to support your student/child’s fine motor coordination skills.