Indeed, in my childhood I always tied them wrong, and they kept coming untied. But in adolescence, I learned about square knots & granny knots, and generalized that knowledge to shoelaces.

Still more recently, I have gotten rid of shoelaces almost altogether (except on dress shoes, which I resort to about every other year). Most of my shoes have Velcro, and my boots have hooks at the top, so I can tie the laces permanently at the botton and pull the loops at the top over the hooks.