I first saw Tie Z’s on Twitter and thought that would be a GREAT way to show Miss A at least the steps towards solo shoe tying. Tie Z’s touts shoe tying made easy. Basically it’s three cute designed snaps that you place, (under direction,) on your child’s shoe. There are then instructions on the back of the card you receive them on and also a great How To Video on their site: http://www.tiezs.com/how-to.html. In addition to the Tie Z’s themself you also receive, by email, a rewards chart to record progress.

The girls style is the “pink crystal” Tie Z and the boys style is the “silver star.” Not too many options to choose from, but if you have a girl that doesn’t like pink then I suppose you could always go for the “silver star”. However if you have a boy who doesn’t like the boys design, you’re probably out of luck.

I tried the girls style Tie Z’s on A’s Keds, a pretty standard shoe lace. I had a little bit of a hard time attaching the Tie Z and even ended up bending it. I assumed that the Tie Z was like a pin that went through the shoe but I’m assuming for safety reasons it’s not sharp. After I took the Tie Z out, after only a couple of seconds of it being on the lace it left an indentation in the lace, not a great thing if you’re thinking about using the shoes without the Tie Z’s in the future.

I’m not saying Tie Z’s is a bad product at all, in fact I really do like it and the concept. My suggestion though if you want to use these is to purchase a pair of flat (non-thick) replacement shoe laces. Even perhaps an idea for Tie Zs to add a pair of standard white laces along with their Tie Zs. Also, placement of the Tie Zs would probably work best if you have more than 2 hands helping out.

Overall I’d give Tie Z’s a good rating. If you want to buy your own go here: http://www.tiezs.com/ They are currently selling for a promotional price of $9.99 with shipping and handling included. Not too shabby if you ask me!

What are other tips or tricks you’ve used to teach your child to tie their shoes??