how to encourage my child to dress himself

[Fizzypop001]

when i ask him to pull up or down trousers he says he cant do it and tells me to do it and has abit of difficulty with a shirt as well. hes 4 now and starting reception in september any ideas would be happily received

Ds1 is 4.3 and he's pretty good at it now but it's taken a while. I found that he could actually do it but didn't want to so things I found worked well were making it a game or race - eg who can get dressed quickest mummy or Ds? Also ds chooses his own clothes in the morning and gets dressed before I go up to his room so if he potters about and dresses slowly it doesn't annoy me and he doesn't play up because he hasn't got an audience.

How good is he with fastenings? I would start with basics like tracksuit bottoms and t shirts, avoid fastenings for now. He will be able to do these without help which will boost confidence. A good game is putting on as many pants as possible in a minute - give him lots of adult pants dad's etc. you play too. The t shirt is over the head, one arm then the other which is nice and simple for him. He will need to be able to do his school uniform for pe, but if he has elasticated waistband trousers and a t shirt he will be able to do it.

his trousers are elasticated from the back and got an opening from the front of the trousers with a little clip so he should be able to do it. i really like your ideas will try them because he can do it but refuses to do it

Whatever you do, don't do what my mil did with my 2

'Oh I don't think you can do it by yourself, you can't do it can you?'

Think she was trying to get them to prove her wrong but they would just stand there saying 'I can't, nana do it'

Thanks for that mil! Grr grr

lol