teaching toddler to put on outdoor clothes

[BeccaSueCongdon]

Originally Posted by jen_batten An awesome and easy tip for getting coats on fairly quickly with littles--it sounds goofy but stay with me. Have her put the coat on the floor by her feet. The hood should be the closest thing to her feet. Now she can bend down, and put her hands in the armholes. As she stands up she can raise her arms to flip the coat up over her head and down into place. Ta-da!! I'm sure it sounds more complicated/time consuming than it is. It's really easy and most kids get a kick out of it and it will save you a little time not having to fumble around for that other sleeve.

This is going to change my life...

We seriously endure about five full minutes of wining/sobbing when my son has to put on a coat. I'm horrible at motor planning AND at verbalizing motor planning - so my poor DS and I get so frustrated with eachother. :-(

[an_aurora]

My kids spend lots of time in outdoor gear since we live in the frozen north. It hasn't gone below zero yet but it's been very very close the past few mornings (+3*F this morning!).

They don't use snowsuits or puffy coats in the car because of the safety risk.

DS is 3 and knows how to put his snowsuit or snow bibs and coat on. His preschool has 20 3-5 year olds to get dressed and they go out at least twice a day, so they need to learn how to get dressed on their own. The easiest way is to teach them how to unzip their snowsuit and lay it on the floor, and then lie down, slide legs and arms in, stand up and zip. Hats and boots are easy. Gloves generally need some help.

My DD2 is in Kindy and they spend an hour outside every morning. They are all expected to get themselves dressed except for stuff like zippers and tucking their gloves into their sleeves. She wears snow bibs and a down jacket over it, and can do it now after a bit of frustration with the zipper.

[Mom2Connor]

Originally Posted by EmilytheStrange I was thinking it was pretty impressive that your 2.5 yr old could do those things at any pace - but since I just have a 26month old, I wasn't sure if DD was going to get all amazing at clothes in the next few months

That's what I was thinking, LOL. My DS can't do any of that by himself. Honestly I guess he could probably get his jacket on, I still hold it for him though and he sticks his arm through, turns around and finds the other hole for the other arm.

He can't put socks on by himself unless it's a mommy pair of big socks. he definitely can't do gloves and he would never put his hat on by himself because he doesn't like hats.