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Home › Articles › Kid Connections › Red Shirt and Purple Pants?

Red Shirt and Purple Pants?

Fuss-free Toddler Dressing Strategies

By Melinda Copp

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When you start to work on putting clothes on, make sure your toddler's outfits are simple and baggy, without buttons, zippers and small snaps. Give your toddler plenty of encouragement, and make it fun by incorporating team work and games.

Leave Your Toddler Plenty of Time
When your toddler is just learning, getting dressed will take a while. In fact the amount of time your toddler will need probably won't fit into the typical adult schedule with back-to-back plans and time constraints. And when you're in a rush to get out the door, you will get frustrated with your toddler and try to help or even take over completely. This may work sometimes for some kids, but if your toddler needs the satisfaction of doing it herself, you'll be battling it out in no time. So make sure you leave your little one plenty of time to get dressed and ready for the day, which means you may need to readjust your schedule to allow for more time.

"Allow for as much time for 'life' as possible from a child's perspective," says Janice Smestad, president of Empathy Associates LTD, an organization based in Merrick, N.Y., that provides support and training for parents and educators. "Give them the time they need to do what they need to do."

You can help speed the process by giving your toddler a limited number of choices about whathe can wear. For example, suggest two different shirts and two different pairs of pants. Giving your toddler a few options empowers him with choice and gives him a sense of control, while letting you set some boundaries at the same time. This also limits the amount of time your toddler will need for wardrobe decisions.

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