Tips/tricks for putting clothes/shoes on right way?

[JTsMom]

For some reason, I can not seem to teach Jason how to put his clothes and shoes on the right way! It's weird- almost 100% of the time he puts his shirt on backwards, and his shoes on the wrong feet. He's getting better about underwear and pants though.

It's frustrating b/c he wants to dress himself, but then I end up having to take everything back off and switch it. Or, I don't catch it until we're out in public.

So far we've:
-Told him tags go in the back, flies (on pants/underwear) go in the front, pockets go in the front. We've gone over and over these terms, and visual shown them as well.

-We've sung songs about it.

-I've shown him how to lay pants down on the floor with the zipper/fly/whatever facing up, sit down behind them, and slide them on.

-I've let him do it wrong, then check and see for himself if the fly/tag was in the correct spot.

The shoes I haven't done much with except try to show him how they should look, and asked him if they are more comfortable when they are on the right feet. I tried the circle trick, but none of his shoes make much of a circle.

I'll try anything! Fire away. :)

ETA: He'll be 4 this month- really need to update my siggy.

[fivi2]

Just laughing, no real advice. My girls are 3.5 and always get their shirt on backwards. You would think the law of averages would mean they occasionally get it right, but nope. always backwards. I'll be watching for suggestions!

[JTsMom]

You would think the law of averages would mean they occasionally get it right, but nope. always backwards.Yes! Exactly! LOL

[khm]

The backwards shirt thing might be because he isn't getting the correlation between how it starts and how it ends up. My son has to lay his shirt on the floor FRONT down or he doesn't get it right.

Shoes, I have no idea. Every darn day, "Mom, is this the right foot?"

[bubbaray]

I have no tips, but if you find a magic solution, send it my way. My DH (age 45) virtually always puts their clothes on the wrong way. It drives me nuts. Tag goes in the back, dad -- its just that easy. Its a wonder he can get himself dressed....

[Sugar Magnolia]

My 8 year old still puts shirts on backwards. He does realize it and corrects the mistake.
Dd puts everything on backwards. Even her underwear! Which I am sure is very uncomfortable. Can you say wedgie?

[Piglet]

DS2 just went through this and it just just got better in the past 2 months... right around the time he turned 4! I think it is all part of their development. The only consolation is that at least he is independent enough to want to do it himself. At that age, I was still dressing DS1 head to toe!

[alien_host]

For shoes I read somewhere (Parents Mag maybe) to draw one arrow in each shoe so they point towards each other (like this ---> <---) and teach your child to point them together.

DD is 4 and still gets things backwards, I think it's harder with the "tagless" PJs and shirts - looking for the printing isn't as easy as finding a cloth tag.

And for underwear I found a lot of her character ones have the tag on the side. She has much more sucess with underwear with just one item printed on the front rather than all over the place.

[brittone2]

It got better from age 4 onward here. DS used to get really mad at himself when it was on backwards, so I remember it being a frustrating time for him.

DS is 5 and doesn't seem to struggle w/ it anymore (and hasn't for quite a few months now).

[SnuggleBuggles]

We did the arrows in the shoe thing too. Clothes? He still puts them on backwards sometimes here and he is almost 7. He's just quick and careless. :)

Beth

[JTsMom]

Wow, I thought it was just us! During evals, "Does he dress himself?" is always asked, and when I say that he puts things on backwards, or that he needs help with certain things (like longer socks, or buttons) I always get "the look". I'll try out all of the suggestions here, but I'm not going to stress about it anymore. Thanks guys. :grouphug: