What does your 3 yr old do for themselves?

[BarnMomma]

Our DS will be 3 in about a week and unlike what I've read/heard from other moms about their children at this age, DS has no desire to be "independent" with some things.

For instance, he has no opinion about his clothes and no desire to get dressed by himself. I can still pick out his clothes and while I've been encouraging him to learn how to dress himself, he has no interest. He's been using the potty for a few months now but I need to pull his pants up and down and help him follow through with hand wahsing etc.

Sometimes he'll show interest in brushing his own teeth but that usually results in him making spit faces at the mirror and not much brushing. So I do it. Same with eating, unless he's really hungry, Dh or I need to keep asking him to pick up his fork and eat or we just help him eat.

Ds is a very verbal and bright boy- very ahead of his time on so many aspects of development- but when it comes to personal care, he prefers to have me do it.

Is this normal? I feel like all of his peers are doing so much on their own for themselves. Just curious what others 3 yr olds are doing on their own.

[Fujiko]

My daughter sounds much like your son. She's 3 years and 3 months. We just got her potty trained, but I still have to pull her pants up (not to mention wipe her butt, but that's because she can't reach! ) and help her with each step of washing her hands. I brush her teeth (though she does "help" at the end), and I dress her. For some things, like dressing, I've tried to encourage her to do it herself, but she protests with "I CAN'T!!". She's developmentally normal if not a bit precocious.

[Neera]

Dd is 3 and 4 mo old. She puts on her own shoes. Sometimes, she'll put on her own socks and sometimes she won't be able to do one foot. She got into zipping up her own jacket in winter but then once she had done it a few times she would or wouldn't do it depending on her mood.We buy packaged 1 L water bottles. She pours it into a cup herself or drinks from it directly. I had to stop her from doing it since she played with the water one time, ending up with pieces of crayons inside a bottle. She knew how to play the dvd and played it by herself with my permission until we changed our TV and it became too complicated for her with the extra remote.

She will definetly not eat anything other than junk food if it she were to eat by herself. She is even fed milk because she says she can't drink it by herself. She is still on the bottle. (I tried taking it away but, that just made her stop drinking milk altogether.) She won't put on her clothes even though she knows how to put on most of them. She doesn't know how to brush her teeth; she chews the brush every time she tries.

Can't think of anything else. Yes. put's on car seat belt herself. But, now she does only part of it and the other half I have to do. When she discovers things she does them in the beginning then gets lazy (bored?) and won't do it or will do a half-baked job.

[sapphire_chan]

I think it's one way of being normal.

I have the opposite of your kid, only she's 22 months so she can't actually do 90% of the stuff she insists on trying.

I think "average" is probably in between.

[SomethingAnonymous]

I agree with sapphire.. it's one way of being normal

My 3 year old has always been very independent, but it's recently (at 3 yrs 9 months) become extreme. She won't let anyone help her with anything... if we try to help, she completely breaks down and cries.

Maybe he just hasn't hit that stage yet.

[OkiMom]

Ill say in advanced my DD is VERY VERY independant.. unless of course she wants mommy then she can't do anything for herself. She will:
Use the potty independantly. Including wiping and washing hands
Get her own snacks/drinks if I have the cups/bowls down. If I don't I catch her trying to get her own cup/bowl down.
Dress herself with the exception of zippers on the back, any buttons or snaps and tying shoes (although shes ALMOST there with this one).
If I let her she will help dress her sister and change her sister's diapers (some days I just let her do it because my 18 month old won't sit still for me but will for her 3 year old sister, go figure)
Put toys away in their clearly defined spot. She knows where things goes and gets upset if they are out of place.
Help with meal prep. I only let her do that if I have time to give her my undivided attention. Tonight she cut up the meat for the spaghetti sauce with me behind her to make sure she didn't cut herself.
Brush and floss but I still go over it myself.
If I tell her to get something at the store she gets it and brings it back to me (I only do this if its near by, I won't let her out of arms reach at the store)
If I let her she will do her own laundry with the exception of folding (she can't fold the pants right, she does shirts and undies. Can't hang well either)
Feeds the pets with prompting and guidance (otherwise she would overfeed the fish)
Waters the plants again with guidance otherwise she would flood them.

Theres more Im sure. My girl loves to do whatever Mommy is doing so she mimics and copies me. I think I just have independant children though. My 18 month old changed her own diaper this morning and tried to get herself dressed. Didn't do to well on the dressing part but it was fun to watch and she had the biggest grin on her face at the end.

[SomethingAnonymous]

Originally Posted by OkiMom

My 18 month old changed her own diaper this morning and tried to get herself dressed. Didn't do to well on the dressing part but it was fun to watch and she had the biggest grin on her face at the end.

lol aww that's adorable!

My daughter sounds pretty similar to Okimom's.. she is 3 years and 8.5months though.

I honestly think that there is a huge difference developmentally in each month, or even each day. In the last 9 months or so, we've seen huge huge changes, even daily. When we watch videos of her at 3 years old, she seems like such a baby compared to now. At some point, it seems like things just start happening really fast developmentally.

[djenya]

DS is pretty much the same though he picks out which clothes and shoes he wears. He can't put them on or take them off though.

He went through a phase recently when he had us feed him all the time, but it stopped a few weeks ago. He just turned 3 this week.

[Auraji]

My Dss couldn't do much when he was 3 years old, he was potty trained by the time he was 4. He knew how to work the tv and the dvd, but that was basically it. He's 4.5 now and all he does is get dressed, use the potty (we still have to wipe him), he needs assistance with brushing his teeth and washing his hands. He sometimes picks out his clothes. If I leave a cup with milk on the fridge he'll go get it, but he doesn't serve himself anything. He also doesn't get any snacks. Cleaning up his room usually takes about 3 hours of me telling him to do it, helping him and guiding him, not because he doesn't know where things go, but because he doesn't want to do it. He also won't drink for a regular cup, just straw cups and sometimes we need to feed him or he won't eat unless is a favorite and he's really hungry.

My DD is only 14 months, so I don't have much to compare with, but I already get a sense of independence from her. If I'm taking a shower, she'll take her diaper off and climb into the bathtub with me, she likes to "brush" her hair and her teeth. I let her and then finish, she helps me get her dress by pulling up, down, putting her arms in or out. She "waters" the plants with me and "feeds" the cat. She also helps me unload the dishwasher. It might be messy, take more time than it needs to, but she likes to help and I know that this is the learning process.

Maybe there's a difference on boys and girls? I mean my DP is 24 and I still make about 80% of his snacks and get him his clothes a lot of the time

[Katie T]

Ds is 3yrs 9months so close to 4 but he has been doing mostly the same things for at least 6 months.

He can dress himself but needs help with his shirt. (his just turned 2yo sister can completely dress herself though, weird lol)
use the potty by himself but refuses to wipe, I have to.
Brush teeth but I help at the end or start to make sure they get brushed good.
He can fill his cup with water from the sink (sippy so unscrewing the cap and replacing) clears his dishes into the sink, picks up toys, shoes on,

I think some kids (like DD2) like to be independent and then there are others (more like ds) who are laid back and let others do it. I think most kids are mainly capable of dressing and such at that age it depends if they have the desire.

[tammyswanson]

DS isn't 3 yet, but so far he uses the toilet and pulls his pants up/takes them off himself (I still have to wipe with #2). He also likes brushing his teeth (go figure!), but he can't reach the sink so I have to wipe his hands and face off. He can put his socks on if you get them started for him, and can put his shoes on (sort of), can put his shirt on, but would rather run around nekkid.

Stuff he's not doing much of is saying sentences, but he does know words thankfully. He tries to 'read' but not sure if he's just looking at the pictures and not the words, lol! He can count to 10, but sometimes he goes from 1 to 6 and then back to 4, lol!