Make Dressing Fun & Easy

Do you want to…Stop arguing over what to wear?

Save time and stress in the morning

Get your kids out the door ON TIME and WITHOUT TEARS?

Career oriented Parents who understand the value of time management and Mom’s who want their children to succeed, know that being on time is important. A critical Life Skill is dressing properly and quickly in the morning. Kids learn this skill at various rates. You will learn what’s behind the dawdling & the tears and how to make dressing fun and easy with these tips. If your kid has Sensory Integration, ADD or an Autism Spectrum disorder, this will especially benefit !

Top Ten Dressing Tips

1.  Praise children excessively and often when they start to dress by themselves.

Kids learn better with positive reinforcement and some kids can get easily discouraged. So even if they put their shirt on backwards, say “Good job! I’m proud of you!“. You can point out their errors gently later. Dressing is hard work for young kids so teach slowly and use dolls to practice dressing… even with boys!

2. Put clothing stickers on drawers to help kids learn which clothes are where.

Cut out clothing articles from magazines and tape them on each corresponding drawer to help kids learn which clothes are where. This is so helpful for younger kids. They forget easily and like pictures to remind them where their things are. Put pictures on the outside and inside of the drawers to encourage them to keep their shorts out of their pants drawer.

3. Only put a few items per drawer and make sure clothes are in season.

There should be no sweaters in drawers in the summer unless you live in Alaska. Go through drawers and tidy them up for your kids. Encourage them to help and eventually they will. Make sure there are no shorts in the pants drawer.  Store extras in a closet or under the bed organizer.

4. Use  my little weatherbuddy ä to show what to wear and make dressing fun and easy. Studies show that visual aids help keep children focused and when they are self motivated, they can complete tasks more quickly. my little weatherbuddyä, a pictorial thermometer, is designed to self motivate children by making dressing fun and easy using visual aids (and a little magic) to show them what to wear. Your kids simply look at the image of a boy or girl, which sticks to their window, and they pick out the appropriate clothes. The clothes magically appear and disappear, and words instead of numbers are used to describe the temperatures since most kids do not understand the temperature scale. The visuals were designed from what kids like to see and the magical appearing clothes adds another dimension to learning how to dress. Research indicates that kids learn skills faster when visuals combined with repetition are used. So its pretty simple, my little weatherbuddyä offers a unique means of teaching this important self help skill by making dressing fun and easy. Parents say it saves time and reduces stress because it eliminates the power struggle. Kids say it makes getting dressed fun and easy because they think it’s magic and cool, and they feel more in control. You can buy it for $12.95 at P B & J A CHILD PLACE, 5149 Main Street, Downers Grove, IL or @www.MyLittleWeatherbuddy.com  
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5. All clothing items should be easy to put on, fit well and are age appropriate. 

Velcro is great for younger kids, also with boys who have more trouble with buttons, zippers and snaps. Try to find coats, shoes and boots with Velcro. When their fine motor skills develop, they will button their own shirts and when their fingers are strong enough they will snap their own pants. Some kids don’t like to put shirts over their heads and some think its fun. Each child is different. Understand the tears behind your child and listen to them. When they are calmed down, talk about why they cried. Most kids by 1^st grade should be able to put on their own clothes.

6. All clothing items should be comfortable.

Watch out for scratchy materials, uncomfortable tags or thick sock threads. Most kids are tactile sensitive which means that they physically can not stand the feel of things that are scratchy or rub their skin in a funny way. Try turning socks inside out or buy thinner ones. If shoes are an issue, try one‘s with high ankles. They often feel better with the laces tied tight (but not too tight). Also leather shoes allow feet to breathe and feel good all day long. Seams that go around the upper arms and/or legs can rub the wrong way as in some jersey’s and painter pants. Khaki’s or sweatpants and sweatshirts/T-shirts are best. Listen to your kids and ask them why they don’t like that piece of clothing. You might be surprised

7. Have a getting dressed race or race themselves against an egg timer.

A half mile walk for most kids is a daunting task but when its a race they can run a mile! Let them win in the beginning and often. They can win an extra “Good Job” hug or high five. Simple, easy, cheap and immediate rewards always work best. Remember more time with you is the best reward.

8. Carefully inspect clothing for un-removed tags, sharp points and loose decorations.  Many clothing items are made off-shore where quality is not so important and cost is the main component. Even pretty flower buttons can pop right off and be a choking hazard or crack in the dryer and cause a sharp point, so check clothing every so often for these hazards.

9. Let them earn 10 minutes of TV or Video game if dressed in 10 minutes.

Dawdling is the most common problem for all ages so try to get them in a habit to get dressed quickly. This is best be done in a positive learning environment.  It’s hard to pry them away from their favorite activities to get dressed or eat, so use them as a “carrot” to encourage them to dress correctly and quickly. If they need extra time in the morning to dress themselves, go to bed 15 minutes earlier so they can wake up earlier. An extra 15 minutes make’s a world of difference in the morning. You can use that extra time to cook a good breakfast. The smell is sure to get the worst dawdler to the table.

10. Add a transition and routine for bed time.

Work a 5 minute bubble bath in the bedtime routine to aid this hard transition. If they can put on their own PJ’s and put their clothes away or in the hamper, a 2nd  or extra long story is a good reward. Time with parents or a caregiver and showing that we love them is the most successful reward we can give for good behavior. Stick with the routine!