Ds will not wear short sleeves.

[SoupKitchen]

I know this seems really silly, but ds will not wear short sleeves. He gets really upset and has a full on screaming/ crying tantrum if I attempt to put him in a tshirt.
He will happily get dressed into long sleev t-shirt and will occasionally wear a t-shirt if he has a cardigan over the top.

It seems to be a fixation with him. I know that in the grand scheme of things it is rather petty for me to be worrried about, but being honest me I have never met a child with this sort of problem and am beginning to wonder why?

Anyone got any experience of this or any ideas as to why? or how to manage it?

You have my sympathy! My DS1 will not wear LONG sleeves - it drives me mad. Even when its cold its a real battle to make him wear something warm.

unless he has some kind of medical condition - i would put the t-shirt on and tell the kid to lump it.

No medical condition custardo, but he get really upset by it not like a normal tantrum. Even if he gets over the initial tantrum he will go on all day, periodically getting upset each time.

Its probably just a phase. How old is he? my ds is 6 and has a real thing about only wearing short sleeves with shorts and long sleeves with trousers. He's just found a way to assert his independance and show his own style

I put a t-shirt on him this morning and he was very upset for half an hour til he put his PJ top on over the t-shirt himself, and is now happily playing with the PJ's over his t-shirt

he is 2 and a half

Does it matter if he wants to wear a long sleaved t-shirt? Can you not just find some really flimsy ones for the summer? I'm sure he'll grow out of it.

How old is he? To be honest, I would use it as a way of getting him to dress himself. Offer him the run of his wardrobe and say, okay, if you want to choose your own clothes, go for it. Come down wearing which t-shirt you like. Then you don't have to faff around getting him dressed. Hurrah.

i think its power play - and ridiculous. sorry

Yes, it probably is. Why wouldn't you want your child you feel in control sometimes?

cos i am

Custardo, I am fairly sure this is not normal power play, as I do not let him get away with stuff, Tantrums are normal, but this is more than that.
Surely anything that upsets a child and causes the parent to be concerned is not ridiculous.

DD currently will only wear a skirt, after a long period of only wearing trousers.
I think it is a "phase" and once she refused to ever put on her coat, then got cold, so put her coat on...but she had to learn it for herself, ask for it for herself, make her mind up HERSELF.
I think it is a way of having some control, rather than relying on us all-powerful giants who know everything!
It's not subtle, but no child that age is.

I expect he'll grow out of it, don't make it an issue, let him help choose (some of) his own clothes, have t-shirts available...one day he'll just choose to wear it for himself.

fine we shall agree to differ. ti still my opinion that an average 2 year old crying all day becuase they have to wear a t-shirt is pushing it

I have no problem with him making choices and occasionally let him help pick his clothes. I am more concerned about how upset he is getting.
If it was a power struggle with me, surely he would not get this upset on every occasion when this happens( other people dressing him)
He even get hysterical if you roll up his sleeves to wash his hands.

I agree Miggsie, let him choose himself. How will he learn how to be in control of himself if he is never given the chance? Surely, that's what we want for our children. Thinking, problem solving individuals or automatons???? Hmmm.

I would just let him wear a long sleeved t shirt and not comment on it even slightly. It will pass - don't sweat the small stuff (sorry - I hate it when people say that to me!)

If there is a genuine reason he needs to wear a T-Shirt and cannot wear what he wants then I'd say tough, you do as you're told, basically.

If it makes no odds though then let him wear something long sleeved.

I do agree with custy though that crying all day over a t-shirt is pushing it.

I'm with some of the other posters. I wouldn't make an issue of it. Let him choose what to wear, and should we ever get a summer he will then decide for himself if he's hot.

Sometimes it's better to lose a battle to win the war, if he's generally good I'd leave it

He'll probably get bored of this soon. I agree with everyone who has advised picking your battles wisely. Sleeve length is not something to get into a battle of wills about, especially as it is probably a phase that will pass.

My DS is the same. We've just returned from a week in France where he was the only child with a long sleeved t shirt and long trousers! After several heated discussions we've come to the conclusion that it's not worth falling out over and that he'll grow out of it eventually!

I think he is probably just sensitive to this atm, just a phase and perfecty normal. My friend's DD was quite fanatical about the way the seams sit on her socks. My DD likes to 'scrape' on the ribbed collar of t-shirts, and for a while refused to wear t-shirts without ribbed collar. Another friends DS hated wearing pants of any kind, and really prefered to wear a dress, although would wear trousers without pants when out and about. They have all grown out of their phases.

TBH, even th hottest days in this country are not properly hot, so I wouldn't make a fuss. He will grow out of it, or, worst case scenario, wear long sleeves for ever. No biggie.

One thing you could try, if he is quite verbal - buy a large mercury thermometer and stick it to the wall drawing a draw a mark next to, say, 25 degrees. Agree with him that if the temp is higher than the mark he will wear short sleeves, otherwise he can wear long.

if he's 2 and a half, it sounds normal enough. I wouldn't bother trying to get him to wear a short sleeved top. What does it matter?

We have video of dd2 going berserk because her pyjama legs had to stay up above her knees but they kept rolling down . That's 2 for you.