Children struggle to get their shoes on the right feet. Fact.
It’s one of those obstacles that, whether due to absent-mindedness or just not quite getting it, can stick around for ages. It shouldn’t be that easy to put shoes on the wrong feet, but millions of children manage it – hobbling about thinking “something isn’t quite right” and repeatedly falling on their arses.
Thankfully, there’s a solution. Economist Professor Emily Oster, who wrote the don’t-panic pregnancy manual Expecting Better and child-rearing book Cribsheet, has shared an awesome hack to help kids in this conundrum.
Oster was offered the tip by her son’s daycare supervisor: draw arrows on both shoes pointing inwards. “Literally would not have thought of this in 100 years,” she wrote.
[Read More: 10 parenting hacks to make your life easier]
It’s a great idea, and one commenter had an even more useful suggestion: cutting a sticker in half and splitting it across the two shoes.
Why is that more useful? Because then kids can make sure, as well as wearing shoes on the right feet, that they’re wearing the left and right shoes from the same pair.
It’s another real “Ah yes, I am a tiny dimwit” feeling, realising you’re wearing two completely different shoes. I did this when I was nine – I went out wearing unmatched white trainers, and realised about 15 minutes after leaving the house on a day-long trip to a museum. My dad still brings it up at every opportunity. I am 36-years-old.
One little snip to a sticker, and you could save a lot of bruises to your child’s ego. And arse.