When Should Child Be Able to Dress Themselves?

Hi C.
I have a daughter born in Sept and is three now. She is mostly able to dress herself. I pull out her clothing and set it out for her. Sometimes she has problems with getting the socks right but I just help her straighten them out. I have always dressed her until I got put on bed rest. She can't button snaps and will as which shoe goes on which foot. I always praise her and tell her what a great job she did.
Good luck
A.

Hi, well I have three kids and my daughter is now 24 she started at 2. My 14 y.o. son didnt get the hang of it until he was about 4 or more and my 10 y.o. old son was potty trained and dressing himself before he was three. I dont think there is a definate age limit just when they are ready. Maybe stop helping as much a little at a time and see what happens. good luck.

I think it depeneds on the child. My oldest wanted my help until he was almost four and my youngest was just two. I had a kid I babysat who was able to dress himself by 14 months. It also depends on how fast you want it done. If you're in a hurry, you may want to help more but if you have the time let the child do it. Good luck!!!

between the ages 2-3. But every child is different.

Each child is different but, most of the time it is us wanting the clothes to be right or not planning the time that it take them to get themselves dressed. I have found that to be key. My almost 4 year old is dresses himself but still gets the shirts on backwards sometimes and we are working on the shoes and the right feet. I do have to keep redirecting but it gets done. My 18 mth daughter helps putting her arms in her sleeves and pulling on her pants. I would just start with PJ because usually there is a bit more time there. I have also found that my son gets dressed faster if I give him a choice of two tops for the day then he gets excited that he made a decision and you don't have to go through the mix matched I really don't want to be seen with him like that situation. Well I hope that helps.
M.

Every kid is different, but I will tell you what my experience has been: My now four-year-old has been dressing herself independently for about eight or nine months now. She still needs help with tights and weird stuff like that. She needs demonstrations on new stuff, like the first time she encountered a buckle, for example.

I don't remember when my 11-year-old started dressing herself, and that tells me one thing - that it must not have been traumatic and it must've come in due time.

One thing that really has helped my four-year-old with the concept of getting dressed independently (and helped my 11-year-old too) is a giant chest chock full of dress-up clothes. Clearly, I'm not going to sit by her for the two solid hours she sometimes plays with the dress-up bin (as we call it). So, consequently, she HAS to put the princess costume, bride costume, owl costume, ect. on herself. She may wander in while I'm doing what I'm doing and ask for a button-up in the back or to fix a difficult zipper, but for the most part, she'll dress and undress for hours on end. Great practice, eh? And she's PLAYING!

I believe between three and a half and four and a half is probably a pretty "normal" time frame to expect your daughter to have the motor skills to button, zip, etc. and to dress herself without your help But...as I said before, every kid is different.

C., my older sister, who now has four kids, makes fun of me when my oldest Jake comes over. She can't believe that Jake doesn't want anything to do with dressing himself. I never even thought of it, it's faster if I do it, right?? So lately we have been making him do it. He hasn't put up much of a fuss but if we're in a hurry to get to preschool or to an appointment I usually fold and do it for him. I figure he'll do it when he wants to, he's doing everything else he needs to do so if I were you I wouldn't sweat it. Just make her do maybe just one piece of clothing by herself everytime you dress her and then progress from there. It was nice to talk to you.

With my 2 yr old, we are starting to sort of teach her to dress herself. What I mean is we play this game, "I bet you cant get your shirt on by yourself". She has an older brother, and she thinks she can do everything he does. Yeah sometimes she gets her head in a sleeve or something, but I am usually "helping" her by moving the pieces when she cant see me. Pants are very tricky right now, as she cant quite reach around to her butt yet, but like I said its just a game, and we are giggling more then being serious. This is how I taught my now 7 yr old, though I think he was almost 4 before he was doing it on his own. Good Luck!

Your daughter is doing fine! Keep encouraging her to try and be involved as much as you can. You can even make it a contest to see who can get dressed first you or her (this might work when she can do a little more for herself). Kids are amazing....they are smart little creatures and figure things out quickly...keep helping her and congratulating her when she does things for herself and things will eventually "click". She is not behind schedule...most children dont start fully dressing themselves until age 4-5.

My son is 3 1/2 and he is just starting to dress himself. He is doing great with pants and underwear, but the socks, shoes, and shirts he struggles with.

my daugher just turned 2 and she does her top sometimes and helps a tiny bit with pants..
my son will be 3 in two weeks and he can undress very well..getting dressed- he needs a little help with his shirts sometimes- and pants, if i give them to him and leave him alone he asks for help or gets frustrated. he's just now trying to do socks. those frustrate him. i would say if your daughter turns 5 and she's not dressing herself, you have a problem..hahaha anything before that i'd say she is doing great:-))

I'm not quiet sure when my daughter started to dress herself with out help, but she is 5 years old now and when she wakes up she does everything herself without me even telling her. I think that as long as you keep showing and helping her dress herself she will pick it up. Try to make a game out of it some time, help her put her shirt on and then see if she can do it. This might let you know how she does and what problems that she might have so you can try to help correct them. At age 3 she should start having the idea on how to dress herself but will still need help. I think my daughter was 4 when she really started to be alot more independent on this issue.