Dressing without Dramas

www.icantoo.com.au

Learning how to get dressed is one of life's important challenges. As a parent it can be sometimes tough to walk the line between encouraging independence and frustration. Here are some tips to make life easier.

Babies help too…

Right from the birth, babies are learning about skills such as dressing. Some ideas to help your baby;

• Talk your baby through every step. Talk about the clothes you have chosen, the body parts that are being dressed, what is coming next. You might feel funny explaining things to a newborn but it is a great habit for later on and you would be surprised what babies can understand.
• At around twelve months you will notice your baby trying to help you by holding a foot out ready for a sock or holding arms up for a jacket. Give baby lots of praise for helping.
• Dress baby in comfortable, loose clothing as much as possible. Struggling with fiddly buttons, frills and uncomfortable fabrics makes the whole process of dressing take longer and gives babies the idea that dressing is unpleasant.

Toddler tricks…

The dressing challenge really comes into play when your baby becomes a toddler. Toddlers love experimenting and trying out their new sense of power. In fact running around in no clothes at all seems like a good proposition for many toddlers- much to their parent's frustration! Co-ordination and concentration are improving at this stage so toddlers should be participating a lot more in the dressing process. Toddlers can usually put on and take off their hats, take off their shoes and carry out some steps during dressing. Try these suggestions;

• Taking clothes off is one of the first skills learnt in the dressing process. Encourage this skill by using loose fitting tops and pants.
• Keep on talking about the steps of dressing e.g. "put this arm through the arm hole"
• Let your toddler do some parts of the task all by themselves. E.g. you help them take their arms out of a jumper but they pull their head out of the head hole.
• Encourage your toddler to sit down when trying to take off a top. Stability is helpful.
• Let your toddler choose his/her own clothing by offering one to two suitable choices. Perhaps, even lay them out the night before. Too much choice at this age only leads to frustration and tantrums.
• Praise your child for any help they might give. Remember to praise specific behaviours rather than using a general type of praise such as "good job". For example; "Wow, you took your pants off all by yourself!"
• Do some play activities e.g. dress ups. Toddlers love grown-up shoes, hats, jackets and scarves. Older toddlers will begin to enjoy getting dolls dressed too. Remember- toddlers learn so many practical skills through fun and play!
• Try to remain calm and relaxed about dressing. Toddlers can be fickle- one moment they want to do everything themselves, the next they want help with everything. Try to ride out these changes and offer opportunity for independence when your toddler is in the mood. At other times, feel free to just get dressing tasks over and done with in the easiest and quickest manner possible.

Pre-school confidence (3-5 years)

Some children are able to dress themselves reasonably independently by 3 years of age. Buttons tend to be mastered later at around 5 years of age.

• Continue to let your child choose what they will wear but give one or two choices only.
• Toys and activities that involve dressing are great e.g. dressing dolls and activity toys with various kinds of fasteners
• Once again, offer clothing that is reasonably simple and loose for getting on and off.
• Consider using a reward chart or system if your child is reluctant to get dressed or participate in dressing.
• Talk to your child about labels on clothes and how these go to the back.
• Buy clothes that have a pattern on the front to help your child learn the concept of "right way around"
• If your child is having difficulty taking things over his/her head, consider whether they need to work on improving shoulder muscle strength.
• Provide lots of "fine motor" play activities to get the fingers ready for managing fastenings such as zips, buttons and laces.

The primary aged child

By now, most children are able to so most aspects of dressing. Shoelace tying usually is learnt between five and six. Issues with dressing at this age usually surround problems being able to manage fasteners, tie shoelaces (see shoelaces tip sheet), tidiness and choice of clothing.

• Use reward charts if appropriate to encourage care of clothing.
• If problems persist with buttons, zips and laces, have your child practise with the item of clothing before they put it on. Activity toys with fasteners are still useful for younger children. Some more fun "fine motor" activities may also help develop buttoning skills.
• If necessary, bypass fasteners all together by choosing loose fitting clothes.
• Velcro fasteners on shoes may be suitable for the child who struggles with laces. Alternatively, elastic shoelaces are useful when children have school uniforms stipulating shoes with laces.
• Some children struggle to remember the steps of various dressing tasks. Parents can break the task down into teachable steps and concentrate on learning one step at a time.

Remember- try to keep dressing fun and include play as part of the process. If your child needs more help with dressing, an occupational therapist may be able to provide some useful suggestions.