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April 30, 2012

How I Bought Myself an Extra 15 Minutes a Week


Sure, 15 minutes a week doesn’t sound like much…an extra couple of minutes a day…but, coupled with a corresponding decrease in mental anguish…it’s like having an extra 20 minutes at least.

So what is this miracle time-saver?

Velcro-closure tennies, that’s what!

When we bought the girls’ first shoes when they were about 15 months old, we picked out the cutest tennis shoes with the cutest Velcro straps.

But, we discovered after walking approximately 50 feet outside the store (the girls in their stroller), our cutest Baby A had the ability to take off her new shoes with lightning speed.

We did a quick turnaround and exchanged the Velcro straps for iron-clad lace-ups.

And so I’ve spent the last two years laboriously tying and untying the girls’ shoes for each and every outing.

A couple of weeks ago, we made our biannual trip to purchase new shoes for the girlies.  Over the past year, the girls have become much better with keeping their shoes on…last summer, their Velcro-closure sandals, and this winter, their [imitation] Ugg boots that can slip off relatively easily.

The assortment of lace-up tennis shoes was practically nil, so I decided to chance it with Velcro.

We’re two weeks in, and so far, so good!

My “deal” with the girls is that they have to keep their shoes on in the car.  If they don’t, then they won’t be able to walk, and we’ll have to use the stroller.  That’s usually a big deterrent for them.

And I can’t say how freeing it is to get shoes on in a fraction of the time.  And yesterday, I realized the girls could probably put their own shoes on…viola!

I still had some straightening and tightening to do, but that’s nothing compared to the contortions sometimes involved in four shoes and four double-knots in our tiny mud room.

So, to the question, “When does it get easier?  Well, in this respect, it’s when Velcro enters the picture.

6 comments:

Carrie said...

This is great! I was so excited the day the girls could put on their own shoes. It's a prerequisite when buying new shoes...can they put them on by themselves?
They got some great slip-on Keens for playing outside and hiking in Arizona, but poor Sophie cannot get her super long (size 10!) feet into them by herself. I think she has an odd placed arch and needs help squeezing her foot into them.
So, how often do your girls put their shoes on the correct feet? It's still a 70-30 shot our get it correct!

Miss Megan said...

Long live the velcro!! Our girls are in the - we can remove our velcro shoes in 2 seconds - phase and I hate it, but I would hate having to tie and double knot shoelaces constantly too! I'm thrilled for you that your girlies not only can keep the velcro shoes on, but can nearly put them entirely on by themselves too! Score one for the home team! Woo hoo!

Mandy said...

While I could never wear crocs myself, I picked them up for the girls this past winter and LOVE IT! They put on their own shoes and coats now. Granted I usually have to switch feet in the car, but it's soooo easy to just slip them on and off!

The only downside to you new found 15 minutes is what was inevitably waiting to fill it's spot! I traded shoe-ing for collecting baby doll garb, cause you can't leave without the baby dolls!

Marcia (123 blog) said...

We've had velcro forever.

Let me tell you - I still waste time because they INSIST that the shoes go on that feet (the wrong ones) and I want to RIP out my hair :)

I thought I was getting clever and put the shoe on the side of the foot it belongs to BUT K crosses her legs to put on shoes so they're still wrong :)

Unknown said...

I swear by velcro - sure makes shoes x3 much easier! Sarah CAN tie her shoes now so laces are an ok for her but velcro is still the mainstay. Now if Adam can just get them on the right feet each time, we'd be golden! ha!

Wiley said...

It really is the little things! I was debating the other day when we really need to move to shoes with laces and I'm hoping the answer is middle school.