Can your 3 year old dress and undress themselves unaided ?

[Tillyscoutsmum]

DD is 3.6 and is able to dress her bottom half but usually needs a bit of assistance with tops etc.

She attends pre school and they have P.E. Her teacher expressed some concern to me that she wasn't able to dress and undress herself completely independently and asked whether I could "practice' with her at home.

Is it really unusual for a child of her age to need a little bit of assistance getting dressed ?

my dd 3.9 is able to do most stuff, she does ask for help with tops, but if I ask her to try first she can generally do it - no problem with putting tops on at all, its more taking off that she needs encouragement to try.

DS was able to do it from about competently from 3.9. But some of his little friends couldn't do it.

I think it depends on what clothes they wear, DS tends to wear long sleeved t-shirts which are quite stretchy so he can get them on easily.

My dd 3.7 and she can only do bottom half too, trousers or skirts fine, but no chance with tights. She can't manage tops or dresses unless they are very loose but tbh after a bit of initial excitement that should could do it she is now very lazy reluctant to do it without a lot of nagging encouragement!!

She does however insist on putting her own shoes on-I'm not allowed to do that! What I'm trying to say is I don't think it's unusual for them to still need assistance at this age

no i don't think it's unusual at all.

some of the children at ds1's school still struggle and they're in year 1!

we made sure ds1 could do it in the summer before he started receoption

Thanks all. I was just beginning to worry that she'd inherited by terrible co-ordination

Sounds normal. I think it depends partly on how coordinated they are but mostly on how much they want to do it.

My ds can't

Ds is 3.10 and cant do buttons or zips but can do everything else himself, doesnt mean he will though....

sorry only read OP but this just seems strange (the PE teacher's comment, not your 3 year old) na, my dd definately couldnt dress herself at that age, think she could have sort of managed bottoms too but would need assistance.

She can dress herself now but shes 5.

I wouldnt worry at all about this. Sounds normal to me.

My DS has just turned 4 and used to delight in dressing himself aged 2. Somewhere between 2 and 4 he decided that independence was a step too far and now he refuses point blank to dress himself. He is very stubborn, and you might want to figure out whether DD can't or won't dress herself!

My ds is 4.5 and can't! But, only needs help with school shirt buttons.

Think it depends what she's taking off and putting on. I'd expect a 3.6 yr old to be able to pull a t-shirt off and on but not to do v fiddly stuff easily.