I was never taught to tie shoelaces correctly... or at least if someone tried to teach me, I didn't listen. For more than three decades I would just tie a double bow to make sure that the laces did not come undone. After Aila was born I decided to teach myself how to properly tie shoelaces.

I learned two knots: Ian's Fast Shoelace Knot and The Double Slip Knot. It didn't exactly change my life, but when I'm going out I can now choose (based on shoelace type and planned activities) whether to just use the fast knot (which is extremely fast to tie), or the more secure knot to ensure that the shoelaces don't come untied.

When Aila was old enough to start tying her own shoelaces I fell back on the old "bunny goes around the bush and through" method (with a double bow) because she would get frustrated trying to learn any other technique. Then one day I noticed that she came back from school with her shoes tied like this. If you can't recognize it, this is the distinctive look of the Double Slip Knot. I asked her who tied her shoes, and she said that she did it. I then asked her to show me, and sure enough she had independently discovered how to tie a Double Slip Knot!

Technical Details: This photo was taken with my Samsung A5.