Dressing themselves: an acquired skill |

Friday, 29 August 2008

Dressing themselves: an acquired skill

Accomplishing the task

You can help him tactfully to accomplish the jobs that are possible. If he feels you are with him and not against him, he will be much more cooperative. It takes patience. Here are a few suggestions:

Pull his socks partway off so that the rest is easy.
Lay out the garment that he's going to want to put on.
Interest him in the easier jobs while you do the hard ones.
When he gets tangled up, don't insist on taking over; simply straighten his clothes out so that he can continue to try to dress himself.

Deciding on the outfit

Another source of conflict is who is going to choose the child's outfit. Some parents never allow a child to decide what he wants to wear. For some it is a daily struggle. One solution is to agree on who decides clothing for different kinds of activity. For example, your child might decide party shoes are fine to wear to the supermarket but not at the beach, whereas you decide what's to be worn for holidays or a wedding. For a young child, the choices should be simple: a child may be able to comfortably pick one of two shirts, but he might feel overwhelmed if confronted with four or five.

One reason parents get so upset about clothes is that they feel they'll be judged by their child's appearance. So it may help to remember that, in the long run, a child who has learned to make his own choices is more likely to feel comfortable and confident – outcomes that are much more important than just looking well-dressed.

Source: RCN

“My daughter is 3 years old and now she knows how to wear her underwear, pants, short pants and pajama. She even practices wearing her socks by herself. I let her do that so that she will know how to fit her clothes. But I sometimes help her and teach her some easy way to wear it. She is learning and applying it though it takes time for her to fit it. It does not matter as long as she knows how to wear her clothes on her own.”