Getting 2 yo DD dressed always turns into a fight!

[SquedgieBeckenheim]

Just that really.
I give her 2 or 3 choices of appropriate clothing, she picks one, then refuses to actually put it on! She runs around, plays with the clothes, and pulls off anything I manage to get her to put on. I try getting her to do it herself, I try helping her, then after up to half an hour end up putting the clothes on her while she screams at me.
It's exhausting, and I don't have time for it in the mornings when I have to get her to nursery and me to work.
Any tips to get her to just put her bloody clothes on?!

[MeredithShepherd]

No advice. My 2 year old DS is like this with tooth brushing... twice a day... running around the bathroom, clamping his mouth shut, climbing into the bath etc. Toddlers are arseholes.

[CaptainSnort]

It's totally normal at this age, 2 year olds are indeed arseholes.

With the oldest, we used to do games like lets have a race to get dressed first, or a bribe - if you get dressed quickly you can watch Peppa Pig before nursery. It worked sometimes, but not always.

But 2 year old DS has language delay so he doesn't understand any of this - 9 times out of 10 we dress/wash/brush him by force as he loudly protests :-(

[RiverTam]

I don't know if this would help but we always got DD dressed before breakfast, seemed to be much easier.

Could you allow her to choose her own clothes? I mean, would it really matter if she wore a bonkers ensemble?

[BeMorePanda]

I recall at this age starting to use my timer a lot. They seem to love being timed to do stuff. "Hey I'm going to time you getting dressed. Ready steady go!" Ah 125! Brilliant.

It's insane but effective - worth a try.

[soundsystem]

Mine's like this. I did try the 2 or 3 choices but it didn't really work. Now I let her choose from all her clothes, it works better. She ends up in bonkers outfits, but as long as it's weather-appropriate I just leave her to it. Clothes she can get on herself work best, so skirts or looser trousers are much easier than leggings. Socks are a nightmare. I get her to "help" me put my socks on and I do hers, that sometimes works.

[SquedgieBeckenheim]

Thanks for the replies. We tried letting her choose from her entire wardrobe, but ended up having a fight about her wanting to wear a thick wooly jumper and thick joggers on the hottest day of the year! She also has clothes that are massively too big in there due to getting lots of hand me downs. I have no where else to store clothes, except her wardrobe.
By "appropriate clothing" I meant fits and suits the weather! I get her out 2 tops and 2 bottoms and she can mix and match. She still ends up with bonkers outfits!
I can't dress her before breakfast. She has an uncanny ability to smother herself in food, despite wearing a bib. So we'd only have to change her again straight after.
Today i didn't let her choose at all, and she got dressed with no issue! Probably just a fluke.

[ODog]

I don't do choices with 2yo DS as I don't think he gives a toss anyway and it just drags it out. We do a lot of him pretending to be Thomas and the head/arm/leg hole is the tunnel that he has to choo choo through. Not 100% effective but works sometimes.

[RiverTam]

But just let her wear what she chooses. If she gets too hot she's learnt something (and she might not run at the same temp as you). If her clothes feel uncomfortable because they're too small, ditto (clear out too small stuff!). Can't you store the too big clothes in your wardrobe, or on top of the wardrobe?

If she gets food everywhere wrap her up in a muslin, at this age DD had a muslin tied round her neck and a pelican bib for every meal.

[SquedgieBeckenheim]

Seriously, River, this kid can be wearing a long sleeve bib, securely tied and STILL gets food everywhere. Even nursery comment on it!
Too small cloes are cleard out, too big ones we have nowhere to store. Trust me, if I could put them somewhere else I would. She runs hotter than me, I'm not going to allow a 2 year old to overheat.

[JinkxMonsoon]

They can start a fight in a paper bag at this age (and it doesn't get much better at 3 ). I must admit I never let DD choose her clothes and I can see that's probably your biggest problem. I know you probably thought to yourself "Maybe she won't fight so much if I let her choose" but, I think, it's sometimes a mistake to give them too much power and too many choices, because it just becomes one more thing to have a tantrum over.

[NotAPuffin]

We never let either of ours choose their clothes! DD was a little saint when it came to dressing herself but DS more than makes up for it; he's 4.5 now and we still have to supervise him constantly when he's getting dressed because he'll get completely distracted and end up wandering around the house naked, wearing DD's clothes or accidentally putting his jammies back on. Or just not get started at all. He can spend 30 solid minutes putting one sock on because he needs to sing about it while he does it.

I'm sorry, I have no constructive advice other than 'learn to think calm thoughts a lot'.

[PassiveAgressiveQueen]

I just ended up nothing fun until your dressed, and if you refused to get dressed no attention until you return ready to get dressed.

And def no breakfast until dressed, i think that was honestly the bit that worked.

[T0ddlerSlave]

I'd keep trying with no choice over clothes, when DD feels she has control she gets more difficult.