Things Boys Should Know By The Age of 15

1. How to Tie Shoelaces

Yes, this is really the first thing on the list. Please hear me out. 

Knowing how to tie your shoelaces is an essential skill for anyone, and though deemed easy to do, requires a lot of practice. 

You probably learned how to do it when you were little. Four to six years old, I'd say. Even before that if you were secretly a genius.

Now, look around you and ask yourself "Why, author, are you saying such a thing? Of course it is an important skill, but everybody already knows how to do it!"

That's true, but listen to me. Though I do mean it literally, I am referring to demonstrating how you can do it yourself.

I hate those "cool girls"—who I will talk about later—that ask their other cool female friends to tie their shoes for them because they don't want to bend over. 

As if you already don't all the time, hoe.

Mind you, 99% of the time their hands are empty, and their backpacks have a quarter of the weight your average high schooler carries around everyday. And if we're really flexing, only a sixth of what I carry everyday.

I don't know. It just comes out as lazy and I don't like it.

Show people that you're not a baby, and that you can do a simple task like tying your shoes by yourself. People take this for granted because most people already do it themselves, but there are still those outliers who choose to be lazy—either because it's funny, "relatable" (honestly, mood), or cool—and go with it.

Even worse, there are those people who keep tying those people's shoes. If you are one of them, know that you are damaging more than helping, and that you're encouraging your "dear friends" to be lazy about simple things in life. And if the simple things in life can be bypassed, what about the more complicated ones?

Right there is where it becomes a problem.

Bottom line? Don't tie people's shoes to them unless needed or commanded. If they have both arms free and no back problems, they will be fine on their own.

You can also surprise people if you practice enough. Show off your shoelace-tying skills by tying one shoe while hopping on the other one, or learn how to tie them with a single hand.

Moving on!