My daughter has decided to get dressed herself in the morning by picking out her own clothes. I would not mind but she wants to wear her good clothes to school which of course get paint and glue all over them and she wants to wear tights which are too cold for going outside. She will even go into her dirty clothes to try to get something to wear. It is a huge fight and I am at my wits end. I have tried laying them out the night before and working with her to put an outfit together but when the morning hits - it is a fight to get her to wear them. Any suggestions.
I agree with both posts. Pick out a few outfits and haveyour daughter pick from those. If I let my son (6 years old) get dressed by himself everyday, he would wear his camo pants and shirt all the time so he could be like his Army uncle.
H. D.
I went through the same problem when my daughter was young. What worked for me was putting the dirty clothes out of sight or reach,leaving the clothes that I thought were ok to wear in certain drawers and the good clothes in other drawers. I know that my daughter always looked in the same places for her clothes so moving stuff around worked for me. If there are certain items that she wants to wear repeatedly you could try getting more than one of that item or washing them more frequently (which is not always easy especially when you already have a million and one things to do).
Good Luck,
L. (Taunton)
LoL that is Cute mine does that with her father and that is cute when she goes to skool in 2 different outfits ... have her lay them out be4 she goes to bed the tights under the pants works she is still wearin them just under pants.... and see if that helps or tell her she can do it her self but she can OLNY get from the dresser or were ever u have her clothes... try that .. Hope it helps...
J. Marie
I agree, limit the choices!! make sure it all matches and leave it out for her.. take away all the dresses and tights , that way she can't help herself.. or you could have her help you fold the laundry and make outfits .. but laying them out the night before really helps me.. good luck
well I went through this with my son when he was about 4-5 yrs old. I took some special clothes and kept them in my closet for special occassions. One time he saw them and I told them they were special clothes and could only be worn on special occassions. We never had a hard time in the morning again. try that. Good luck
I saw this same scenerio on "Super Nanny." She dealt with it by having the mother lay out 2 different outfits and having the child pick from the 2. That way it allows your daughter to have some control over what she is wearing and hopefully it will eliminate the hassle in the morning before school. I always tell my son "you have 2 choices..."this or this"" no matter what the situation and since I started doing that and allowing him to have a choice, but not complete control...we havent had a real run in since he was much younger (his is almost 5 now)It works, trust me.
Good Luck!!
M.,
It's great that you are allowing her to "express" herself by letting her choose her clothes. she is also flexing her decision making muscles, which is another great. Of course, children don't always make choices we want them to! Maybe you could give her a couple of choices each morning (since she seems to change her mind overnight!)- lay out 2-3 shirts, 2-3 bottoms, and make them all mix and match so whatever she chooses will be ok. Then you are giving her choices still, which she seems to insist on, but you are also setting limits on them. If she insists on tights, can she wear them under pants? Or send sweats to wear over them just for outside play? And the paint and glue- I hear you! I work with toddlers, and wear paint and glue daily. Typically, though, with a little pretreating, it should all wash out. Good luck, and keep up the great work!!! There's nothing crazier for your morning than a strong willed child- which my son was and still is at 11!
