About what age can children get themselves dressed?

[Hillbeans]

LOL - I got a kick out of all of the replies - thanks!!

Sleepyone - Thanks for the sweet Liam comment

DS can do underwear and sweatpants well, jeans ok, shirts - sometimes he needs help with getting it over his head - socks - we worked on it some more today about getting the heel in the right spot. I do think part of the issue is that i'm often rushing trying to get him ready and the baby and I don't have the time to wait while he goofs around pretending to get himself dressed.

Today we had a lesson and he did quite well, so from this point on, i'm going to try and get him to do it himself and i'll just help make adjustments.

Just That - Madison does it herself at 21 months!! Wow! I thought my 3.5 yo niece dressing herself was good, but that's wonderful!

Thanks to everyone for the comments and your stories - I don't feel so far out of the loop on this now, but we will try and make more time each day to practice buttons, snaps, and zippers also.

 

[justhat]

Hillbeans, I completely agree with you that a lot of it is about rushing. I can't take credit for Madison, her school basically taught her this stuff not me. And they also had to teach me how to help her, by suggesting that we (meaning parents of kids in the class) wake up earlier so they have time to dress themselves, don't offer assistance unless the kid asks, and when they do, show them how to do it instead of doing it for them. Their big thing is, 'if you're servicing your child then you're doing a disservice to your child.' When I realized she had to be doing these things at school by herself I knew if she didn't do them at home she'd have a lot of trouble when I wasn't there. So we get up an hour and 45 minutes before we need to leave for school, but if I had a young baby in the house too, no way would I be getting up an earlier than necessary. I know her school's views are kinda extreme and all so hopefully I won't get flamed for forcing my young toddler to be independent, but I just wanted to throw some suggestions out there for you cause like I said, if it weren't for her school, no way would I have remotely thought she could or should dress herself at this age.

(Oh, and according to the other moms there, most boys in her class don't do many of these things, if any, at home, so I think it might be a little harder for them.)

 

[Tigger&Belle]

You school *may* be a bit extreme having the kids dress themselves so young, but it sure beats the alternative. I've done before/after school home daycare for years and I've been amazed at what some of the kids do not do for themselves. And I'm talking school aged kids. I only have one girl now and she's fine, but in the past I've had parents show to pick up their kids and the child just walks to the car and the parents gets their backpack, lunch, maybe a musical instrument or project, etc, etc. I'm not talking about the parent helping the child out, but the parents being in charge of everything. And then if something is forgotten, the child is mad at the parents. Again, I'm not talking about young kids, but older elementary and even middle school kids.

For the record, I really am trying to get my almost 6yo to wipe his butt after going to the bathroom without any help from me!

 

[justhat]

Thanks T&B. I should add that they will help your kid, it's not like they'll be forced to go outside without a coat simply cause they couldn't get it on. But they try to make them do as much as possible. It seemed kinda mean to me at first, but then one of the teachers explained that by giving your kid responsibility over themselves, you make them feel like an important individual and I think that's true. Their complaint is just like yours T&B, that some kids just run out of the school while the mom collects the bag, lunchbox, etc. and I could see how that could get annoying as they get olders, especially when you have more than 1 kid.

 

[Tanuki]

My daughter is about 4 and a half and now takes pride in dressing herself (if I lay out her clothes in the order they go on).

 

[Aidensmom]

For the record, I really am trying to get my almost 6yo to wipe his butt after going to the bathroom without any help from me!

That is our big challenge now too.

 

[becka]

DS can get all of his clothes on himself but sometimes he still gets a shirt on backwards or gets his shoes on the wrong feet. I try to lay out his clothes every morning and just correct what he gets wrong and try to show him the way to learn from it.

For the longest time he did not show any interest at all in getting himself dressed. For a while I thought he was going to be content to let me dress him until he was a teenager.

I forgot to mention that DS is 3 1/2. He started dressing himself this past summer after he turned 3.

 

[MinnieM3]

As a member of the bad parent club, how early my older two learned was in firect proportion to how fast I had to get out the door in the morning! They learned fast!

Now little guy was home with dad while I went to work and they BOTH slept in until like 10am and got dressed whenever they felt like it. MEN! Little or big.....all the same!

Don't worry. My 6YO just got around to it last year.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

That is our big challenge now too.

LOL Glad I'm not the only one going through this. The problem is, I hate the skid marks that his underwear has when he does it. I did finally put my foot down (not the foot in my signature... ) and am making him do it. My older kids did it much earlier.

 

[Hillbeans]

This is why I like the Kandoo kids wipes.

My son uses these regularly with no problems.

But back to the original topic, I am/was one of those moms who would just grab everything for my child, help him with his coat, etc. I'm really trying to make an effort these last few months before he turns 5 to get him do his coat and get dressed mostly with no help. I do think in the long run, growing and gaining independence from me doing things for him will be for his benefit.

I do and will still help him brush his teeth until he realizes that he needs to brush EVERY tooth!

 

[Bob Slydell]

I'll second the Kandoo wipes. Since we've bought those, DS has been so much better about wiping than he was before -- all by himself too.

 

[becka]

Those Kandoo wipes worked great .... until DS decided the entire box needed to be flushed!!! Since then I have decided that maybe him needing a little help isn't entirely a bad thing.

 

[bigbabyblues]

My DS just turned 5, and he's been dressing himself daily for a little over a year. Maybe longer than that, but I don't remember for sure.