Dressing 2.5yr old

[QueenRefusenik]

Anyone else have a toddler who's a nightmare to get dressed? DS has gone through phases of outright fury at the prospect (and some phases of actually being quite co-operative, but they never last very long) but is now in a somehow even more annoying phase of just not co-operating. He just goes floppy which makes him impossible to dress! I can just about manhandle him into some clothes but a) I don't see why I should have to when he's old enough to help! And b) obviously long-term he's going to have to learn to do it himself so I don't want to set the pattern of just doing it for him. His language is good but he hasn't quite mastered 'why' so it's tricky to ask him what the problem is... I know it's small fry in the grand scheme of things but it's a source of stress I really don't need in the morning! I've tried getting him to choose what to wear, he helps with his clothes shopping etc... Any tips?!

nope no tips. it's like wrestling an angry octopus. they do grow out of it though x

Funnily enough I used the octopus phrase to DP this morning! Encouraging to know it DOES improve eventually... Can I just ask roughly when it got better? DS is the PFB so I'm a bit clueless - when do we get to the point that he'll be able to dress himself? Or at least, that we can ask him to dress himself only for him to ignore us/come downstairs with one sock on etc like friends' older kids do?!

mine could technically dress themselves by 3, but often put their clothes on the wrong way round/chose hideous outfits! x

Do you let him choose what he wears (within reason) that helps us with cooperation - although it does mean I’m washing a specific pair of socks daily at the moment!
We’ve found that at nearly 2 he seems to understand ‘if you .... then I will or you can...’ so ‘if you let me put your t-shirt on you can go upstairs and have some toast’ or ‘if you stay still while I do your poppers I will get your duck socks’ - it doesn’t always work and we are blessed with a currently fairly compliant DS so I make no promises, it’s worth a shot though!
Oh and DH goes for the ‘make it fun’ approach, roaring dinosaur t-shirt pouncing on his head etc. I don’t always have the imagination or energy.
I like the ‘how to talk so little kids will listen’ book. It has various techniques that are worth trying.

DD is 2.8 and generally pretty good at getting dressed but I let her chose the clothes (within reason) and so she likes being a grown up and doing it herself.

On the days when she won’t cooperate I find being silly and distracting helps. This morning she wouldn’t put pants on so I put them on my head and walked around with them asking her if she liked me new hat. She loved telling me ‘no Mummy they go on my bum bum’ and so I acted all surprised and asked her to show me. Pants on immediately and no tantrum. Works with pretty much everything, as soon as I say ‘oh you can’t do x because you’re too small’ her attitude changes and she wants to show me she can do it.

Let him choose his outfit (from limited options picked by you).
Race to see who can put each item of clothing fastest (you may need to let him win and praise him for doing a good job). Make it a game.

Some good tricks here, thanks! We do let him choose his clothes but he just doesn't"t seem very interested apart from the occasional "noooooo, mummy, aaaaargh!' When I choose wrong!

Had trouble ovetcthe years, breakfast only after getting dressed has helped a bit.

1. Be patient and don't lose temper.

1. Great tip, get his favourite toy and use it as a puppet to ask DS to get dressed.

They push your boundaries and is normal development.

The key is trickery. "Mummy wears big pants"

"Bobo the monkey says put on your socks"

Dress up his favourite toy first.

Make it fun and they will comply.