Does your almost 4-year old dress herself?

[RomanGoddess]

Mine will be four in August and she doesn't, really. She can manage to get her panties on and sometimes manage to get pants on, if they are loose. She cannot put a shirt or dress or tights or socks (yes, socks!) on by herself.

I should mention that in other "gross motor skill" areas, she seems to excel. She runs fast, skips, has been riding a bike (no training wheels) for 4 months now, has been riding a 2-wheel scooter since she turned three, swims (doggie paddle), and seems to have a lot of balance and coordination for her age. But ask her to dress herself and she just can't do it. Is she just really slow?

[Polliwog]

Preschool teacher (and mom of a just turned four-year-old boy. Your daughter is in the normal range. Lots of my students were in same spot at that age.

Getting dressed is a combination of gross and fine motor skills. There's a lot of steps to putting on a shirt. Try laying it face down on the bed and having her slip either her head (my son's preference) or her arms in.

Socks are hard unless they are very loose. I have a hard time putting on tights or pantyhose so I can see how it would be hard for a little one.

Getting dressed just clicked for Chris one day. He can't do his socks yet, though. Good thing it's sandal season.

[DevaMajka]

My ds will be 4 July 31. He doesn't dress himself. I *think* he can put shorts and easy sandals on himself, but that's it.
He's tried to take shirts off, and he ends up with his arm through the neck hole (and still through the sleeve. lol).

He's very much on track most everywhere else, he just doesn't have a lot of motivation to dress himself. yk?

[milehighmonkeys]

DD will be 4 in August. She can dress herself, but sometimes likes help. Shirts are the biggest challenge, so make sure she's got one with a big enoug neck hole, especially if she wants to do it arms first. DD often doesn't want to do it, although she can. Our DD is the opposite in development of your dd, though, in that, she has quite developed fine motor skills and her gross motor skills are on the bottom end of the normal range. I would think that dressing would be more of a fine motor skill, but I'm not really sure.

[Nolamom]

Our dd, just turned 5, can dress herself. She's been able to for over a year now. However, she just started doing it. For the longest time, most of her fourth year, she wanted help. I think it was an attention thing - she liked being helped by me or dh. I just humored her and helped her.

What really got her going with shirts, as the pp said, was laying the shirt face down on the bed. She still lays her shirt flat, then picks it up and slips it on.

Careful what you wish for, though! Now, we leave the house with some pretty weird combos of clothes - all picked out and put on by dd!

[LauraLoo]

My dd just turned 4 and she's been able to dress herself for almost a year - some snaps are hard for her still, but she's able to do buttons and zippers. She can even put on tights. There are downsides to this, however; she will change outfits *multiple* times during the day.

[lindberg99]

My son turned 4 in May and he just started being able to put his shirts on a couple weeks ago. And he still has trouble.

He can put on underwear and shorts pretty easily but doesn't always have them on the right way.

[velochic]

My dd is older now, but I remember that I was still dressing her at that age. Not sure if it was because of lack of willingness or inability, but down to the shoes, I was dressing her.

[blessed]

Dd's has been able to dress herself since before that age. But she might or might not choose to do so on any given day.

Kids are good at what they're interested in. Getting dressed is more of a chore than anything. So kids dawdle, and whine, and say they can't, and look to us to help them.

It's normal.

[veronicalynne]

My dd1 will be 4 in November and she does dress herself and insists on choosing her own clothing too which I let her do unless it isnt appropriate for the weather etc. She just has some trouble with zippers if I dont start them for her.

[pink gal]

My DD turned 4 in May and has only recently become completely independent in dressing herslef. Actually she will still get stuck in long sleeved shirts occasionally.

[ma_vie_en_rose]

Originally Posted by LauraLoo

My dd just turned 4 and she's been able to dress herself for almost a year - some snaps are hard for her still, but she's able to do buttons and zippers. She can even put on tights. There are downsides to this, however; she will change outfits *multiple* times during the day.

Oh, this is life in my house. She even has our 2yo doing it, too. She will pick out an outfit for the DD2, and DD2 dresses herself also. This does mean that I currently have a closet floor FULL of clothes. I am so over putting it away, too, only to have it taken out 5mins later.

[LauraLoo]

Originally Posted by ma_vie_en_rose

Oh, this is life in my house. She even has our 2yo doing it, too. She will pick out an outfit for the DD2, and DD2 dresses herself also. This does mean that I currently have a closet floor FULL of clothes. I am so over putting it away, too, only to have it taken out 5mins later.

Oh yeah. You'd think if they can dress themselves that they'd be able to hang the clothes back up, or at least nicely fold them on the floor. Apparently it doesn't work that way.

[alllyssa]

My 2 year old dresses herself and undresses and dresses and undresses about 10 times a day ;-)

[mamaloveseee]

Our daughter will be 4 in September. She has been dressing herself for quite a while. There are a few thngs she needs help with. She loves to pick out her own clothes and dress herself. She is always changing her clothes. She loves playing dress up.

[momofmine]

My DS just turned four also, and he can undress himself, but he doesn't dress himself. He puts on his crocs, but that's about it. I haven't really tried to get him to do it, and I'm in no hurry, personally. I'm sure he'll be dressing himself by the time he goes to college!

[janasmama]

Originally Posted by LauraLoo

My dd just turned 4 and she's been able to dress herself for almost a year - some snaps are hard for her still, but she's able to do buttons and zippers. She can even put on tights. There are downsides to this, however; she will change outfits *multiple* times during the day.

Yes! I wish my DD didn't dress herself....mine chooses her own outfits numerous times a day and I'm always picking up clothes....argh!

[dbsam]

Originally Posted by blessed

Kids are good at what they're interested in. Getting dressed is more of a chore than anything. So kids dawdle, and whine, and say they can't, and look to us to help them.

It's normal.

:
I think it depends upon the child's personality. My children recently turned four. My daughter dresses herself - she likes to do everything herself. My son probably can dress himself but he rarely does. (He may not be able to put on socks - I'm not sure because he won't even try!)

[jilly]

My son can now put on his own underwear and pants. He can put on his shirt, but he usually doesn't. We taught him how to put on jackets using a "jacket flip", where they lay the jacket on its back and stand by the hood or collar. Then they slip their arms in the hole and flip it over their head -- ta da -- jacket on.

HOWEVER, he does all these things with a great deal of anxiety and prefers not to do them. I have just got used to the background noise of constand "arrg, ooh, mommy, oow, I can't . . . " as he gets ready to go anywhere.

I've found that he's needed me to go through the procedure of dressing many, many times with him. So we had to go through days of . . . okay, sit down. Now open the waistband of your pants. Now put in one leg and pull the foot out. Now put in the other leg and pull the foot out. Now stand up. Now grab the waistband. Now pull up. And grab it at the back so it doesn't get stuck on your bum! etc, etc. Even still he will foget steps and sit there, dumbfounded, with one leg through the pants and the other half way in.

He's a perfectionist and very anxious and really doens't do anything himself that mom could do for him unless he thinks its fun. My 18 month old, on the other hand, already helps pull up his pants and takes off his own shirts and diapers regularly.

[Jade2561]

DD (who is 4 today) has been dressing herself for a little over a year. She is one of those kids that insists on doing everything herself. She likes to pick out her own clothes and put them on, even if she struggles to button or zip or whatever. She does not like any help. I do tie bows if she needs that done though. She is obsessed with dressing and undressing herself.