Getting Toddler Dressed

hi J.,
well i too have an active 2 year old (he is now 2, 9months - a few months ago i started laying out his clothes the night before so that right after he wakes up (which is 99% of the time happy) we would get dressed BEFORE coming downstairs - it has worked like a charm - he may say no, but there is no major protest as there was before when we would be downstairs in PJ's after breakfast and playing.
as far as other dressing sessions & diapers - i just tell him we cannot play until it is done so....hope it helps a bit!

when my 2 year old refused to get dressed two things worked letting him get dressed after breakfast, so now he could see his clothes were dirty and setting an egg timer, for two minutes and then no matter what the fight was gettign dressed at that moment. or maybe saying before you can play you must get dressed so no getting down from the table until you are ready to get dressed. hope this helps a little. sometimes they just can feel our stress from being in a hurry and it translates to throwing fits.

J.,

Have you given your son choices on what he will wear? This can work with almost everything. Kids tend to think and feel they have no control over when they do things and what they do - they get frustrated and then won't do things we need them to do.
I pick out 2 tops/outfits for my daughter to choose from and she decides which one she will wear. Of course I pick out approprate clothing for the day - I don't let her just go in and pick something herself - one that gives too many options and can confuse and also it may not be approprate for the weather conditions. She loves that she is deciding what color top she has on.
This works for other things like I said. Do you want to read books before or after we brush your teeth? We will do both but since they have some control they are happier.

Hope this helps,
L. M

I have a couple of suggestions -- let him pick out what he wants to wear, preferably the night before so that it saves time (giving him a choice of appropriate clothing.) We get dressed before coming down for breakfast, which might work depending on how messy an eater he is. The last thing I do is when my 3yo is particularly resistant, I add some silliness in -- something like trying to put her pants on her head or her socks on her hands or ears. She giggles madly, says something along the lines of "That doesn't go there! It goes here! On my legs! Like this!" and we continue in a quick but silly way until she's dressed. Avoids a fight, gets her laughing, and everyone is happy. Kids just adore silliness :-)

I don't know how much this helps this time of year, but when my 2 year old had this issue this summer, my 4 year old suggested dressing him outside on the porch and it worked like a charm! Try an unusual location...?

Hmm...is it possible your toddler has some sensory issues and doesn't like the way the clothes feel, or is it more a power struggle kind of thing?
Have you tried letting the child know that if they don't get dressed they won't be able to do anything? Give them the choice. ie "You can get dressed and play with your friend, or you can stay in your pajamas and not play today. What would you like to do?" Hopefully they would rather get dressed than miss out on things they like to do!

My daughter went through this stage. She always wanted to stay in her "Ja-mamas" (pajamas).

I bought 7 pairs of sweatpant-like pants and 7 long sleeve cotton comfy T-shirts and put her to bed in those clothes. They felt like pajamas. When she woke up in the morning - she was fully dressed. Try it - it works until they enter the next stage - getting very particular about what they will and won't wear.

Good luck!

T. C