Dressing themselves

[HungryClocksGoBackFourSeconds]

I'm wondering what age kids are able to dress themselves and enjoy playing dressing up without an adult having to help?

DD is 2 and can take tops off by herself and can put them over her head though hasn't figured out the arms yet, she can get her legs into trousers but doesn't understand she needs to stand up to get them over her bum.

I struggled with DD when she started school to dress herself.

My DD sounds very similar to yours. One friend of mine was told off by nursery (?!) for not giving her 3yo enough opportunity to dress himself as he wasn't very good at it. I thought this a bit odd and asked another friend with 3 kids - she said it was hugely variable with hers - one could do it at 3 and she was still having to dress one at 7 on a school day! I guess we'll find out soon enough but my DD wants to do it with no help at all (sigh) so I am hoping she learns quick as we have a right royal strop on our hands every morning when she finds out she still can't pull up her tights/put her sock on/ find the arm holes / do the zip etc etc!

Look up the montessori coat flip on YouTube. She'll love that.

Oh wow, thanks Mia she will love that!

I will see how we go then, she really enjoys dressing up and has a few bits at home and there's quite a bit at nursery so I'm hoping she'll be able to dress herself earlier rather than later so she can enjoy it without needing adult help

DS was dressing himself before 3. He started having major tantrums when I was trying to dress him, until I finally worked out it was because he wanted to do it himself .

DD was much more reluctant. I started trying to encourage her when she was coming up to 3 and it was hard work. She's over 4 now and will still faff about and want me to do it, or at least sit and watch her while she does it (not great when we're in a rush in the morning).

Practical things that I did included making sure I kept their clothes drawers organised so that they could easily pick out what they wanted to wear. When they were just learning, things like laying a top flat out on the floor face down helped them with getting it on the right way round.

Sounds like your DD is making a really good start, hope she gets the hang of trousers soon

my ds is 3 next month and will make no effort to dress himself. He can just about pull a vest off over his head but he still moans and says thats difficult. I think he could do more if he made the effort but he won't

DS2 is 3.4 and just starting to dress himself.