DS is 3 and not showing ANY signs of wanting to dress himself -- how to start?

[hillview]

Is that ok/normal? Otherwise he seems great. He also isn't potty trained but we haven't pushed the issue. How do I get him started on dressing himself?
TIA
/hillary

[JBaxter]

Nathan is 4 1/2 he CAN but wont. He really would go naked by choice rather than put his cloths on. I dont worry about it. It really isnt worth the time and effort for me to fight with him about it. I just put his cloths on and go. My older 2 were like that. I worked full time and would wake them up send them to the bathroom dress them and we would go down stairs. I bet Logan was 6 or 7 before he started dressing himself for school and even then I had to pick out his clothes

[lmwbasye]

Liam is 3 1/2 and we've been working on this. I started with taking off clothes. He can do that except his shirt (we're working on this now). He can only put on his shorts and underwear right now. We're working on getting this to be easier before doing his shirt.....that seems to be REALLY hard for him.

Anyway, long story short is I've just been doing one step at a time and then I do the rest. Once he gets good at the first step (i.e. putting on underwear), I add another one.

HTH!

[sidmand]

We've been asking/showing DS as we go:

"Will you (DS) put on your shoes? No, Mommy? Okay, I put this strap on and then this one...see?"

"Can you help do your shirt? Good job, one arm, two arms..."

"Mommy's turn?" (He's big into turns!) "Okay, now DS's turn."

With the caveat that DS is speech delayed, but you get the gist!

[wendmatt]

DD def wouldn't dress herself at that age. She can dress herself now at 5.5 and sometimes does but still prefers me to help her, especially with socks. I wouldn't worry if I were you if everything else is going well and he's not showing any other signs of development probs. I want to say DD was at least 4.5 before she put her own clothes on, now she sometimes goes off and gets dressed herself and I wish she'd waited for me as the outfit is so mismatched! Of course I beam and tell her how great she is for getting dressed!

[deannanb]

DS can put underwear and shorts on -
socks and shoes are a struggle -
and shirts aren't happening now.

I don't worry at all about it -
If I can get DS to put the underwear and shorts into the hamper, then it is a good day! =)

It is much easier just to help him get dressed. This is not an issue worth fighting over for me.

[KBecks]

It's normal for us. Alek turns 4 in October and has started to want to put on his underwear by himself, and he insists on crossing his legs which makes it go on backwards. I don't expect him to fully dress himself right now. He can if he wants to.

I'd like him to be able to dress himself by 5. I don't know what's "normal". Some kids seem to have a lot of interest early, but not every one.

[Laela]

The way we got our boy to dress himself is to ask him to "surprise" us. I lay out all his clothes for him and then leave the room, and he puts it all on and jumps out of the room with a "Ta-Da!"

I don't know why, but he gets such a kick out of it. He even races downstairs to put on his shoes.

Hope this helps!

[Joolsplus2]

I think I dressed my ds till he was... in first grade? Ok, maybe not that bad, but I just kept getting him dressed forever and ever... (and then picked out his clothes for him till he was 9... :ROTFLMAO: ).

[o_mom]

This is one of those things that varies so widely that there isn't any 'normal'. DS1, 4.5 yrs, *can* dress himself, but most times chooses not to. He won't even attempt socks. I think he really likes the one on one attention and being "babied". At three he wouldn't even put on a pair of pants by himself. DS2, just turned 3, changes his clothes about 10 times a day if we let him.

[hillview]

Thanks all. I read some milestone thing that said it was a 3 year old thing. I was worried :)

All other stuff is NORMAL.
THANKS!
/hillary

[Piglet]

It really depends - my 3 year old is almost as good at dressing himself as my nearly 7 year old (he is quicker than the 7 year old too!). I think it is a personality thing - DS1 is very mellow, DS2 is go-go-go. DS2 is Mr. Independent... always has been.

[ShanaMama]

So interesting to read all these replies because DD turns 3 this week & is now dressing herself from top to bottom. In our case the fights happen when I try to intervene & help. She is extremely independent so I guess it's just a personality thing. She's just gotten the hang of shirts & is so proud when she does everything herself.

[shishamo]

This is one of those things that varies so widely that there isn't any 'normal'. DS1, 4.5 yrs, *can* dress himself, but most times chooses not to. He won't even attempt socks. I think he really likes the one on one attention and being "babied". At three he wouldn't even put on a pair of pants by himself. DS2, just turned 3, changes his clothes about 10 times a day if we let him.


I completely agree with this. I dressed my DS until he was 4.5. I stopped because his 2.5 year old sister started to dress and undress herself. She's REALLY into clothes, and he couldn't care less.