Can Your Man Dress Your Little Girl? by Himself? Properly?

Updated on December 17, 2011
P.S. asks from Houston, TX
41 answers

My friend is out of town and one of the tasks she left for her husband was to get her 2 little girls off to preschool. I saw them this morning. While they were both dressed, the 3 yo had lopsided pigtails and bangs hanging down the front...but she's not supposed to have bangs....and her little sister, was wearing tights but no panties! Yikes! We came to his aid and found an extra pair so he wouldn't be late for work. But...lol!

We have a little boy so my husband has never had to face that challenge of having to dress and accessorize a little girl, but I'm sure he could do it if he had to. Could your husband?

What can I do next?

  • Add yourAnswer own comment
  • Ask your own question Add Question
  • Join the Mamapedia community Mamapedia
  • as inappropriate
  • this with your friends

So What Happened?

I love all your answers. For those whose men are clothing challenged, I'm sure they all mean well...well, most of them anyway.

My husband...sigh...no, he doesn't have a little girl but he learned the hard way to NEVER put a white shirt on our son and feed him spaghetti EVER AGAIN. Let's just leave it at that.

Here's to all the men/s.o.'s we love in spite of it all!

Featured Answers

E.D.

answers from Seattle on

My husband has trouble dressing himSELF, let alone the girls.

He CAN put them in clothing and it will be seasonally appropriate (as in, shorts over tights, a pajama top layered over a dress under a vest, and mismatching socks).

It is... a sight.

The girls think it's GREAT.

A summer dress over a princess dress over THREE pairs of undies? WHY NOT?? I get to wear the dirty sweater that's got a big hole in the arm that mama NEVER lets me wear when we go to town? AND my peanut butter face?! HOLEY COW!!!

My husband has MANY talents. Presentation is not of them.

3 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.U.

answers from Detroit on

Most of the time what my husband puts together is acceptable - it might just be a top and jeans, but that's okay. Fortunately my 4 year old is getting pretty good at putting outfits together so she ends up guiding him! He will brush her hair, but that's it - I don't even think he knows how to twist a pony tail holder together to get it stay. As long as the clothes are clean, and her hair doesn't look like it's had birds nesting in it, it's okay. Sometimes I just end up laying out the outfit ahead of time if I know it's going to be up to him to get her dressed for school instead of me.

One time I had DH help me by getting DD ready for gymnastics - he got her leotard on and then clothes over it. When I got her to class and got her undressed, I saw that not only was the leotard on backwards (creating a major butt wedgie) but DD had no underpants on! I told him later, she still needs underpants on under the leotard, it is NOT a swimsuit! Even to this day, if I happen to have him help get DD ready for gymnastics, or have him take her himself, he still has to ask me if she needs underpants or not. I also had to write "front" and "back" on the inside of the leotard. It makes me really nervous to think what kind of state DD would be in if something ever happened to me!

Men!

2 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

C.B.

answers from Austin on

Too funny :) My first hubby could have done it, but not to my standards. The second was better, but neither one could do pigtails without instructions. (I have a daughter with each, and a son with the second.) I would tend to do practice runs with this kind of thing, and maybe simplify the hair thing. I might have laid out clothes with ensembles put together, then found them dressed differently....appropriate for the weather, but not so much matching. You were nice to help him out.

1 mom found this helpful

More Answers

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.F.

answers from Houston on

My husband can barely dress himself. Seriously most the time I make him change or pick out his clothes, like he'll put on a dressy shirt with work out shorts. He is getting better. When I was having my second child, he came to visit us(me and new baby) with my then 17m old and it was cold and he had on a fuzzy raincoat on so the warm side was on the outside. When I had my third child I asked him to please dress the kids nicely for pictures, I had laid out clothes and they still came all scragly looking, the were dirty, my daughters hair was a mess and she was wearing a pajama shirt with shorts. I asked him why she was wearing jammies? And he had no clue. When our first two were in diapers one was in size 1or2 diapers and my older son was in 5 he would often stretch a tiny little diaper on my son. I would ask him, if the diapers BARELY fits it's the wrong diaper and my hubby would be like "well at least it's a diaper." Love the man but he cannot dress the kids at all.

4 moms found this helpful

T.K.

answers from Dallas on

yes he can and does. The only problem is his idea of matching and mine are not the same. He will grab a pair of turqoise pants and put it together with a turquoise shirt. ??? Too much turquoise and 2 differant shades. The he will put some pink and purlpe shoes with it. Wierd. If I put a wite t-shirt that has turquoise flowers on it with the turquoise pants, he thinks it doesn't match because the shirt is white. I'm having a hard time teaching him that coordinating is not the same thing as matching.

4 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.G.

answers from San Diego on

My hubby sent my daughter to school with mismatched shoes on. LOL

4 moms found this helpful

A.S.

answers from Iowa City on

Oh he can get them dressed but the clothes don't match. He's an excellent hair braider.

3 moms found this helpful

M..

answers from Detroit on

Yeah right, he cant even dress himself properly.

3 moms found this helpful

C.J.

answers from Milwaukee on

LORD KNOWS what my husband would have done with a girl. He's WAY more creative with clothing than I am. He would have rocked with a girl.

If my DAD can get three little (crabby) girls out the door anybody can. He lined us up, cleaned ears, brushed hair, did pigtails AND braids. That poor man had to not only deal with our PITA mom but the all three of us. He's my HERO!

Going to the fire station was a piece of CAKE compared to dealing with the four of us.

3 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.S.

answers from Denver on

Absolutely my hubby can dress my daughter by himself! Oh, properly? Nope. :-)

But God love him for trying!!

3 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.K.

answers from Dallas on

DH dresses our daughter better than I do. I think it just comes down to practice. He's a SAHD and I work, therefore he has the greater experience. He's even changed DD after I've dressed her! LOL!

2 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

B.B.

answers from San Antonio on

Dressing her, yes. Hair - ummm... NO. Actually, it's kind of a running joke at her daycare. Her teacher (who we know well outside of the daycare) will take pics of her with her phone and send them to me with the caption 'Uh-oh.... guess daddy did my hair again" and then re-do it. Poor guy. His hands are too big for her fine hair.

2 moms found this helpful

S.M.

answers from Lansing on

sure my husband can dress them but they will be in each others clothes and they will not match at all. As far as hair, haha, yeah right, he is not touching that!

2 moms found this helpful

✤.J.

answers from Dover on

My husband was definitely always able to dress our daughter when she was small. He sometimes would put a shirt & pants combo together that I may not have picked out if it was me, but they always at least mostly matched. As for the hair, he's always been at least as good at doing her hair as I am. I must be lucky, huh?

2 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

L.N.

answers from New York on

my husband doesn't know where my kids socks are let alone anything else. here is an example, and let me make this clear this was the only time ever i have left my husband take my kids anyway by himself. they were 3 i was down with the flu. it was january in maryland. he decided to take them to a park. i resisted but as sick as i was i was not too loud. fine. i asked him to dress them properly.
well, they come back and i look at my two frozen popsicles. what had happened? my husband was dressed in his north face gear head to toe. because he was warm, he allowed my kids to take off their gloves, hats AND jackets. he let them play in their sweatshirts in the snow below 20F temperature. he didn't do it intentional but because he felt warm he didn't think they would be cold without their gear. he is a great father but sure as hell won't be dressing them by himself anytime soon.

2 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.L.

answers from Austin on

My husband can't even dress our son! One morning I had an urgent morning request that popped up overnight for work and had to leave early, putting him in charge of dressing my son. He went to daycare in his PJ shirt and diaper - NO PANTS. I was banging my head against the wall - how could he forget to put on pants.

Its actually gotten better in the last year, but i keep this incident in the back of my mind - I leave giving my husband very specific direction, such as please dress O in a short sleeve shirt and pants today, with everything neatly organized in the dresser (or I just lay it out myself :)

You're such a good "community" mom for coming to the rescue of the fashion-challenged dads!

2 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

C.O.

answers from Minneapolis on

LOL
We have a 4 year old girl and 7 year old boy. My husband and I take turns dropping them off at daycare & school. He is fine with getting her dressed, although sometimes she wears short sleeved shirts when it's chilly or he forgets to send a jacket. But she is fully clothed. Her hair is usually down and he doesn't always remember to brush it and I can tell when I get home. He has gotten better about the hair because she will get the brush and start and ask for help. I usually put a braid in the night before and he just keeps it and send her like that. It's funny, my daycare provider kind of laughed about it once how he can always tell by looking at her when I got her ready or when he did. But I figure as long as she's dressed, the little things don't matter.

2 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M..

answers from Youngstown on

My husband does a wonderful job of dressing our daughter very well. He dresses her so cute! But he can not do her hair at all lol. His fingers are too big to manipulate the small hair bands. So she will be dressed so cute, but have wild out of control hair lol.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.B.

answers from Dayton on

My husband doesn't seem to get play clothes right for our 4 boys, so I'm going to say NO WAY could he dress and accessorize a girl for school. Church he does fine for with the kids, but the play clothes never even come close to going together.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.P.

answers from Dallas on

My ex is not good at this at all. He has trouble telling my kids clothing apart. Last time they came back from his house my son was wearing my daughters jeans and she was wearing his (very obvious differences), he doesnt even try to do anything with her hair, and usually if he has to pick an outfit for her it doesnt even come close to matching (course he has the same issue with his clothes). Luckily he doesnt usually take them places when he has them so no one but me has to see it.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.F.

answers from Utica on

We shall see how this all goes when I am in the hospital having my second. My daughter will be just over 2 and he will be the one taking care of her while I am away hus he will be dressing her and fixing her hair. I am a SAHM so the dresses and tights dont happen often and are not a part of her regular attire but if I had to get my husband to put a dress up outfit on her I think he would be at a loss
Cute post =)

1 mom found this helpful

R.B.

answers from La Crosse on

he can dress her if the front is obviously the front. There is no "decorative" extra buttons. Things like that.

Its so cute when our 3yr old little girl brings him the brush and asks him to do her hair. He can't get even pony tails straight on the back of her head lol

If I have to leave it up to him to dress her I leave out simple outfits and he just leaves her hair down :)

He gets an A for effort though!

1 mom found this helpful

N.N.

answers from Detroit on

That is cute! Should have taken a picture for mom to scrapbook.........

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

C.B.

answers from San Francisco on

My hubby does help get our little one out the door in the mornings, but I don't think he could do any sort of pony tail or pig tails in her hair. She is in a uniform school, so the clothes are not a big deal. He will brush her hair, but that's it. Straight brush, no "tails" or accessories of any kind! I just think it's sweet to see him brushing her hair!

1 mom found this helpful

M.J.

answers from Minneapolis on

no not mine. Even on a weekend they sometimes just run naked if its up to him. If not, then its a HORRENDOUS outfit of some obscure clothing, mainly cause he lets her loose in her closet and just puts it on her. HAIR, oh we dont go there.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

T.F.

answers from San Francisco on

Yes, but he did go through a phase where he would intentionally mismatch colors and patterns. Not to horrendous but enough to bug me. ;-) I ignored it as much as possible.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.R.

answers from McAllen on

I love your question, I only have a 10 month old girl and when my husband dresses her is like a clown collided with a rainbow, its hilarious like he'd do pink tights with a blue skirt, a yellow sweater and a purple bow... so... no, the answer is he most definitely can't. jajajajaja

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.L.

answers from Minneapolis on

We don't have little girls. But the few times I dared leave the boys to be dressed and cared for by dh, oh man...

Let's just say he couldn't tell the difference between a size 3T and 5T and the oldest looked like Lurch from the Adams family and the small one was totally out of season wearing shorts on a 30 degree day. Neither had brushed hair and were wearing the totally wrong type of shoes when they greeted me at the door!

Don't even ask me about what he served them for lunch, or DHs idea of quality playtime. I just know that if I want the kids to have a good day, I need to get them ready and meals planned myself before I leave the house...and even then...I worry. :P

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

C.W.

answers from Washington DC on

as long as the hair is brushed i let that one go.
No panties would be a major flop imo.
Mine did it this morning, but I had laid out the clothes. If i am gone overnight, I lay the stuff out. Of course even this morning he forgot the gloves. But he didn't have any on himself. Just not cold enough yet for it to be on his radar. I had a spare in my car but we just sat at the docs so no need to worry aobut it

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

T.J.

answers from Seattle on

Haha! Love this question. My daughters never have pigtails when he gets them ready. They have shown up places wearing each other's clothes (3 year difference so you can imagine!), and he doesn't get the message that some girls' shirts button in the back rather than the front like his shirts! I totally pick out their clothes at night now, and leave them in their rooms so it's clear whose is whose =)

Oh yeah, and he thinks our three year old can dress herself, so she went to a halloween carnival in a dress and no panties once!

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

T.M.

answers from Philadelphia on

The clothes are kind of silly and their hair is this sad low ponytail in the back. My teenagers remember the couple of days that dad was on morning duty. They laughed so hard when they saw the 2 little girls come home from school recently with a sad low ponytail. They knew that mommy did not do that morning :)

Men are so funny! When my husband does the laundry, the piles of clothes that he thinks are ours are in everyone elses pile. Kind of makes me smile though.... apparently he thinks i fit in my teens clothes.... i wish! ;)

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.B.

answers from Chicago on

the clothes he can do - but lord help the hair.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

B.K.

answers from Boston on

Dad here can do a pony tail but it takes a LONG time. He wouldn't attempt other hair dos. Luckily, she usualy likes it down. A little curious -- do you mamas let girls wear pink and red together? I went in the other day and the 4 year old picked out pink and red -- I found alternatives but he seemed fine...LOL.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.H.

answers from Boston on

My husband has done it many times before. The hair isn't always perfect, but overall I think he does a great job!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.V.

answers from Washington DC on

Absolutely. Maybe it helps that DH was the primary caregiver for SD when she was little but he can certainly dress a little girl, do her hair, find matching shoes. That said, we do allow DD to have some say on her clothes so right now *I* let her wear an purple dress with holiday themed green leggings.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

B.

answers from Augusta on

yes he could. But then he has a sister and is not afraid of all things girly .
Now on the hair , I can't get pigtails strait , my daughter never sat still long enough to get um and her hair just didn't cooperate.
side note on the tights, maybe mom wears pantyhose without panties.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

C.P.

answers from Albuquerque on

For the most part, yes! Clothes may not exactly be outfits I'd pick (his reply: well, why do you keep that shirt in the drawer if you don't want her wearing it?), but they match and are temperature appropriate. He has also successfully dressed her "fancy" (tights & all) on his own. As for hair, he will comb and spritz, and can do a single basic ponytail (or barrettes, if she requests it), but nothing too fancy.

C.M.

answers from St. Louis on

I love this post!! My hubby is home with the kids Mon-Thurs and daughter goes to preschool so he has to dress her! Often he'll just tell her to go pick something out and that is okay with him...even if it means a purple shirt, jeans and yellow socks. I agree with Tracy K - matching and coordinating are DIFFERENT! So to help them both out (and ease my frustration coming home and seeing her in mismatches clothes) - I set out five outfits and tell her she can choose one per day.

However, the other day she came home in a cap sleeved shirt. I asked my husband why he didn't put the sweatshirt on over it that I had with it. He explained she had put on the sweatshirt earlier in the day and he didn't know that it was supposed to go together. My response was "It's winter! She should not wear a short sleeved shirt without something over it." (she did have on a jacket). I was going to tell him to dress her how he dresses...but he (and I) wear short sleeves in the winter so I guess I should ease up on that with him!!

He does ponytails and sometimes will do her hair half up, half down and then put the bottom in a ponytail. He doesn't do braids or pigtails but that is okay by me.

He used to not put a jacket on her in the winter when we met (I'd meet him on his way to work on Fridays and we'd either swap cars or put her into my car). I couldnt' believe he didnt' put a jacket on her but he said he always warmed up the car so he didn't think she needed it. I was like "What if your car breaks down?" Guess he didn't think about that!!!

So while he's getting better at it...I still prefer to dress and accessorize her! Boy are MUCH easier when it comes to that!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.C.

answers from Anchorage on

My kids have been picking their own cloths and dressing themselves since they were 3, so it has never been an issue. I am not sure he could do a girls hair though.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

L.L.

answers from Dallas on

My husband does it better than me (well..except for the hair). He will pick matching outfits and accessories (incl. socks). He needs my help only to fix her hair :)

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.D.

answers from Houston on

My husband did a wonderful job. However our kids are now 29,30, and 31.

We just spent a week with our son and his wife. On Nov. 23rd they had our second granddaughter. While they were at the hospital we took care of our 1st granddaughter. My husband would get up with Julia every morning dress her feed her, dress her, and comb her hair.

He has always been very helpful. After 32 plus years he is still the love of my life. He is the morning person and I am the night owl.

For Updates and Special Promotions
Follow Us

Related Questions