Toddler parenting 101

smilelari

Someone school me please!

Gavin is a pretty well behaved toddler, we're just working out some of the kinks and I would love to hear your ideas!  In the mornings we have a very hard time getting him dressed.  It used to be that we would ask him to sit in one of our laps and he would willingly do that and sit there while we dressed him.  Now, not so much.  Most mornings it becomes a big battle.  He wants to go to school but he doesn't want to get dressed and reasoning with a toddler doesn't work so well.  We haven't tried much beyond tackling him and forcing him to get dressed, although we have tried letting him pick his clothes.  He picks them and then runs away.

Good morning strategies anyone?

schoolsoutbride

Is try racing him.  See who can get dressed faster, him or you (or him or Gwen). If that's not practical, have him race the clock (bet you cant get dressed in xminutes!)

Sticker charts and chore charts can help themknow what's coming next.  Sticker for every am activity or something.  Let him have a goldfish or something if he checks them all off. 

 

Good luck!  Mornings were a nightmare for us at that age... 

coloradogirl06

Our battles are similar during the night-time routine. I agree with pp, and the racing doesn't have to be like in kind. It could be while you put your makeup on, or blowdry your hair or some other task. You can often have his favorite stuffy participate, or use a reward such as goldfish or two minutes of playtime for getting dressed in x amount of time.

When he's really not participating or helping with something, I will start counting, and that almost always gets him moving, he doesn't want me to get to 5!

Good luck. DS has been really good up until about the last month, and bedtime is a battle every night. Once we realized we couldn't stick to our timeframes so definitively, it helped.

sara_c

I agree with the racing.  And then I'd go to the count to 5.  That works surprisingly well for us.

You could also try silly things like trying to put his pants on his head, etc. 

skidunks

We had the same trouble with our Gavin at that age. I had him pick out his clothes too, that kind of helped. We do a sticker chart for bedtime now when DH is OOT and that helps. Bedtime is harder for us these days and morning has gotten easier. He also likes to have something to eat before we leave for daycare and I would tell him he had to get dressed before he would have his banana or piece of cheese or whatever.

Mrs.Greeko

BTDT.  I am all about natural consequences.  With Lucy I told her if she wouldn't get ready I was leaving without her and went so far as to go out to the garage open the garage and get in the car before she agreed to get dressed.  Obviously I wouldn't really leave.  . But she thought I was going to.  With Lexi I've just had to ask if she wants me to leave without her and start walking out of her room and she's getting dressed.  I have also grabbed Lucy's clothes and put her in the carseat buck naked.  She decided she wanted to get dressed at that poi t and I didnt have to take her to daycare naked.  . And I've definitely wrestled clothes on kiddos many times.  In the early 2s I felt like I'd run a marathon before work every day!  It gets better though!

kt1025

So glad to know I'm not alone in this - it's all I can do to get is both out of the house in the morning!  Having M pick out her own clothes helps sometimes but 4/5 times she picks pajamas so we have a whole different battle there.  I have learned to make getting her dressed the last thing we do because otherwise she strips and we have to go through it all again.  

DownToEarthGirl

Your wedding trip looked great and sounded awesome! 

Oh and I too had lost the clothes battle numerous times - nobody wins some days still at our house.  My oldest always wants to wear leg warmers and shorts and my youngest just wants his batman pjs.  One little thing that has helped is a promise that the minute we walk in the door, Micah (3 1/2 yrs old) can put back on his batman pjs and Bryn can change into shorts and we won't complain.  Micah even gets to "hide" the pjs under his pillow in a "special spot" so he can find them after school.  Does he want to just wear pjs?  If so this might work for you guys.  But if he just wants to not get dressed, it probably won't help. 

I know that is a bribe, but I am not always the best at sticking to natural consequences and 1,2,3 magic doesn't seem to work for us for getting dressed, and I have to get out of the house at a reasonable time for work/school. 

schoolsoutbride

Oh, we've done the naked carseat battle too.  It was a bad scene with lots of screaming.  I totally lost my cool. he was screeching.  I ended up putting a Thomas DVD in the closet, and thus began the beauty of toys in timeout. 

runnin_mama09

Honestly, we do use a lot of the things already mentioned by others. But when all else fails, I choose to let go of this battle and let her go out in her pajamas, even pant-less or barefoot at times. And I bring her clothes with us and change her when she?s ready. Sometimes, it saves my sanity, because really, who's it gonna hurt?

The added bonus is that I get to pick her clothes that come with us, which means I can put her in the overalls she?d never pick on her own. Then it?s a lesson for next time. ?If you had gotten dressed at home, you could have picked your clothes. But since you chose to wear pajamas, this is all mommy has for you. You can wear your ___(desired item) tomorrow.? So far, it?s worked well for us. She's only worn her pajamas to church once and to school twice, and she's pretty much realized it's not worth it.

The ?hard? part is not caring about the potential looks you could get from others who wonder why you didn?t dress your kid. I?m not one to care, so this works fine for me.