Does anyone have any tricks to share? I have a 16 month old who loves playing outside. I barely got one mitten on his hand today, and he had it off in no time! I feel like his mittens are too small, even though they're the right size for his hands. With all the squirming, - I need a huge gaping opening to aim his fingers into. Any advice?
And sadly, yes, I do mean mittens! Maybe I could put something small in there that he would like to hold onto. I know this is hard to picture. Never in a million years would I have anticipated such a battle. I put his socks on without a problem, and he rarely takes them off before bedtime. This could be a long winter!
A lot of online stores sell mittens that go all the way up to their elbows and then put the coat on over - they rarely come off.
Gloves stay on much better. They take a little longer to put on but stay on.
I love the advice for the long mittens. They can't easily pull them off like shorter mittens, because their jackets are covering them. I had the same problem with my 13-16m olds, but in the summer with wearing hats. I've had skin cancer on my face, so I'm insistent on my kids wearing hats outside in the sun. Of course, they'd try to just take them right off 30 sec. after I put them on at that age! My solution was this: explain nicely, but firmly that the hat (mittes in your case) are to stay on if he wants to play outside. Then show that you mean business by immediately taking him inside when he takes them off. If he's as motivated to get outside as mine were, he'll pick up very quickly that he needs to leave them on if he wants to play outside. I used to get a lot of bewildered comments asking "how in the world to you get your kids to leave their hats on?" They learned that if they did what I wanted, they got what they wanted. I know it's not always so simple...but maybe worth a shot if all else fails.
Those little stretchy kind work the best they're awfully thin but maybe you could layer them? But good luck with a 16 month old keeping them on LOL! I know there used to be some available, maybe from One Step Ahead? They had fasteners on the wrists to keep them from being pulled off easily.
Have him make a fist? Then place his thumb in the mitten thumb.
I'm not sure of the brand but for my son I bought him mittens with sleeves that go all the way up to his shoulder so they don't come off. My son was 3 last year and had a hard time pulling them off.
Not sure about fall but I've always used the clips that attaches mittens to the jacket so at least they won't get lost when they pull them off. At Walmart for about $2 a set. During the winter, buy L-bow mittens. I swear by them! They're the winter mittens that come up to the elbow and kids can't get those off and it keeps cold, wet and snow away from their wrists. Just google "L-bow mittens".
K. B
mom to 5 including triplets
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With mittens all the fingers go into the same place and the thumb has its separate opening, much easier to deal with than gloves. It sounds like you are speaking of gloves and not mittens?
One Step Ahead sells the ones that go to the elbows, and Buy Buy Baby sells ones that velcro open really wide, but they won't stay on very easily. They also have the stretchy gloves which were the only things my son would keep on his hands because they weren't as confining, I guess. They weren't easy to get on though! I haven't found a solution either, but right now, I'm more concerned with the hat that won't be tolerated! Most of the time, if we were just going from car to inside, I didn't worry about hands. I wouldn't win that battle, and it was more important to fight it if we were staying outside for awhile! Hope you find something!
