can your 4/o put on their coat by themselves?

[bunny2]

mine cant. at a meeting with his teacher today, she seemed to think this was really worrying.... can all 4 y/os put on their coats withou help?

[starlover]

the little girl i look after can put her coat on at 4, and do up her zip.
her older brother struggled for longer and IIRC still had trouble when he first started school (so nearly 5). He also couldn't do his zip up for ages!

He has caught up though, and has no probs now, I'm sure your ds will get it eventually... practice with him each morning

[FrenchGirl]

bunny2 I wouldn't panick just yet, my dd who is very bright wasn't very good at getting dressed (and still isn't brilliant at it, aged 5 and a half) at the age of 4. She couldn't put her coat on, but with practice at school and home she does it perfectly now!
My mum had a similar experience when I was little: the teacher called her in and said how worried she was because I was slow..............at putting my coat on! FFS!!!
Am now trilingual law graduate, so it hasn't harmed me!
Maybe he just needs to be helped more gently at nursery?

[LIZS]

Can't accurately remember with ds but certainly zips etc are fairly recent (he's almost 7 with motor issues), and he still can't cope with them all so we choose suitable coats with care. dd who is almost 3 1/2 can probably get one on with a struggle but more often I'll hold it for her to put arms in. Is the teacher really concerned or just irritated that she has to do it ?

Jimjams has previously suggested a way of backward chaining such task so each time you leave a little more for them to do until they can do it by themselves. At ds' nursery (rising 3 - 5's) they used to lay coat flat on the floor, lie on it back to floor and put arm in one sleeve then roll over to put in the other !

[kymbo]

My ds's nursery teacher taught him an easy way...
lie the coat on the floor,stand at the hood(or top of coat)put arms in sleeves and lift over head and it's on...do you get what I mean? then it's just the zip to suss out!

[nailpolish]

my 2.4 yr old can

[bunny2]

thanks so much for responses and ideas. The teahcer is concenred about a number of things - this being one of them. I am glad he is not the only one, he gets in a real tangle and it is quite comical to watch but we obviously need to help him sort it out.

[LIZS]

If there are other things too, it could perhaps be a symptom of the sort of issues ds has - gross/fine motor, coordination and planning /carrying out tasks - but tbh, at that age, it could also just be that he is taking time to develop some skills. ds' teacher when he was 4 -5 pointed out similar difficulties but didn't relate them to anything particular apart from it involving too much of her energy and time to help him.

[Kittypickle]

Bunny, I was wondering from your other thread how his motor skills are. DD has always struggled with her coat - she has to put the hood on then put the arms on a lot of the time to be able to do it and can't do the zip up. Are you free on Monday morning btw ? Starry is and Amynnixmum will try to be.

[starry]

Mine can - but I can't see why his teacher is so worried about this. Lots of kids in ds1's class can't.

I will definatly be at Kittypickles on Monday 11am ish BTW - wearing my gold hotpants

[Bozza]

DS is 3.11 and can put his coat on although sometimes struggles because it is a huge padded thing. I've only just started getting him to try though. Also he sometimes puts his arm in the wrong sleeve so then ends up pulling it round until its upside down. Will have no chance with the zip on this coat because it is so padded. But I'm planning on starting to get him to try once he's into a lighter weight one.

[hoxtonchick]

my ds is about to be 3 and at nursery they've taught him the lying it on the ground trick. i was really amused the first time i saw it. he can put his coat on normally, just doesn't like to. he can't do the zip. he also gets himself dressed. mostly.....

[FineFigureFio]

my 3 yr old cant, can take it off

they pout so much presure on them to do everything dont they

[paolosgirl]

My 5 year old can put her coat on - when it suits her, but a lot of the time she struggles with the zip. Rather than have her break the zip (and ruin a good cost) I help her.

[paolosgirl]

coat even

[Sponge]

My 4 year old dd can. She struggles a bit with some buttons that's all. But all kids progress differently.
Her school is keen to get them to do these things themselves - suggest velcro rather than laces or buckles for shoes for instance - but I think in the spirit of fostering their independence rather than purely making their (teachers') lives easier.

[sparklymieow]

my 3 year old can, my 4 year old can't! Oh well.

[bundle]

dd1 learned the lying the coat on the ground trick at nursery too, it really helps i think and is quite fun too. she can do most things, even get her tights on after PE, which is a miracle imo

[Furball]

My 3 1/2 can, by putting the hood on his head then slipping his arms in. He can't do the zip though. DH says now he can understand why he always sees kids running round with just the hood on their heads, he thought they were pretending to be superman!

[Twiglett]

DS is 4 next month .. I hold his coat for him and he slips his arms in then I zip it up

don't see why that's particularly worrying TBH

[aloha]

My three years-and-four-months old can't take his coat off - or his socks. Can take his shoes off, but not put them on. He is dyspraxic though (or so the community paediatrician says).

[doggiewalker]

Furballs way is the way we did it, although I tend to go for those coats that go over the head anyway, then there is no issue about zipping up your coat or not, because it might not be "cool".

[blueteddy]

My ds1 is 5 & has only recently started putting his own coat on. He still cannot do the zip up & is often in the playground in the cold, with an open coat!

[Gwenick]

DS1 (4) can put his jacket on no problem, but the zip is still hit and miss (most usually 'miss' LOL). I'm really not worried about it as his nursery teachers say he's fine with all his fine motor skills type stuff - so he'll learn it when he needs to.

[SoupDragon]

DS2 is coming up to 4 and, like Furball & Doggiewalker, I've (just) taught him to put his hood on and then put his arms into the arms of the coat. Means he doesn't get it the wrong way round. He can't manage to get the 2 bits of the zip together though.

[bunny2]

blueteddy - poor mite freezing in the playgorund!

I am reaslly reassured by these messages. Ds teacher did seem to emphasise the coat problem but the meeting was about a range of concerns, seemingly unrelated but maybe they fit together to form a bigger picture. MY concern is the school making a big deal out of small issues because they are looking for problems with ds .