One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

I knew a lot of things before I ever started to school. One of them was how to count to ten. I learned it from the nursery rhyme my Mother read to me and then I memorized: One two, buckle my shoe; three four, shut the door; five six, pick up sticks; seven eight, lay them straight, nine ten, big fat hen. That big fat hen was the only part of the rhyme that didn't make sense to me. Low, through the magic of the internet, the entire rhyme is explained for me - even the parts up to twenty which I could never remember. Read the entire rhyme and its meaning here.

Being able to count to ten, write my own name and tie my shoes were three of the things I had to be able to do before I could go to school. I was one of those kids with a late autumn birth date which meant under the rules for starting school I would be almost seven before I could start first grade. I now believe Dad was the one who got me into first grade when I was still five. He was our school's secretary which meant he had to spend time with the county superintendent of schools, the draconian Miss Friman. All the school kids, teachers and most adults were scared of her. Not Dad. I think he likely jollied and charmed her because she always seemed happy to see him when we went along with him to her office. I even remember being with Dad on one of those long trips up three flights of stairs to her domain on the third floor of the creepy old courthouse. I was kinda hiding behind Dad's leg when he shoved me around in front and ordered me to "Say hello to Miss Friman."
I do not remember having to take any sort of test to see if I could begin first grade early. Perhaps Dad took me to see her to show her I was ready start school? At any rate, I was permitted to as long as I could pass that final hurdle: tying my shoes.

To this day, so many times when I tie my shoes, I remember Mom telling me that Dad was the one who taught me to tie my shoes and he taught me to do so backwards. She claimed that she had tried and tried to show me how, but I could never get it. Did she say, "Louis, you're the one who wants her to go to school, you teach her to tie her shoes." Because Dad never had much to do with the actual child-rearing in our house. It was always Mom. I remember him holding me in front of him, much as he is with Betty in this picture, and showing me over and over how to cross the two strings, pull them tight, make a loop with my right hand and hold it, take the other string in my left hand, circle it around, pull it through making the second loop, then pulling everything tight. I finally got it! It would have been much easier if I could have just worn those sandals I had on in that first picture.

By the time this picture was taken on Mother's Day, 1950, I was almost through the first grade. I had learned so much and tied my own shoes so many, many times. But all my life I've wondered what Mom meant when she said Dad had taught me backwards. I googled 'how to teach children to tie shoes' and watched a couple videos. In both of them, they show beginning with making the left loop (or bunny ear) first, not the right one as I learned, so maybe that is what she meant. I tried tying my shoe that way after I watched the video and it is SO BACKWARD to me.

I don't have any distinct memories of teaching my three kids to tie their shoes, but I assume I was the one who did. Do they all tie their shoes backward, too?