There are so many milestones to be met in a young child’s life. From turning over and crawling, to their first words and baby steps. These are moments that are waited for and celebrated. But there are other milestones that are as important, that we don’t always pay attention to. One of them is helping your toddlers learn how to dress themselves.
Most of us are guilty of rushing our kids – helping them get dressed, putting on their shoes for them and literally spoon-feeding them. It’s totally understandable considering what busy lives we lead. It’s hard to sit patiently and watch your child struggle with buttoning up their shirt when you’re late for work.
However, being able to dress themselves is an important skill for your child to learn. It builds their confidence, helps them feel a sense of achievement and develops their fine motor, gross motor and cognitive skills.
Here are some tips to help your child as they learn to dress themselves:
- Mornings are super busy in most households with everyone needing to get out of the door to daycare, work etc. It may not be the time when you’re most patient. So, save the practicing and learning how to dress and undress for bedtime or evening bath time.
- Show your kids different items of clothing. Have them identify the pieces – t-shirts, shorts and so on. Demonstrate how to put on the clothing or shoes.
- It can be simpler to start with teaching your kids how to remove their shoes, or their pants. This is easier for them to do, and will give them the confidence to figure out how to put them back on.
- Choose clothes and footwear that are easy to put on. Say no to tiny buttons, zippers and laces and go with Velcro and elastic to begin with. Once they master pulling up their pants and putting on their shoes, you can teach them how to put buttons on or tie their laces up.
- Kids have a hard time distinguishing the front of clothing from the back, or even their right shoe from their left. Help them with this by buying clothing that has a logo or cartoon character on the front. Also, teach them how to find the tag, so that they know that goes in the back. Different stickers on each shoe can help them figure out which shoe goes on which foot.
- Make them sit on the floor while they put on their shoes and socks. This way they don’t lose their balance. Sitting on a small stool also makes taking pants off easier. It also helps to have a mirror close at hand so that they can check themselves and see that their clothes are on right.
A word of advice to all you parents – be patient! We know that it’s easier said than done. But once your child gets the hang of dressing themselves, that’s one less thing you’ll have to worry about and they will be that much more independent. So allow them to practice and try until they get it right.