stressed to get dressed

Years two and three for a toddler are tough… and tough on you too. One of the many things that we face is our child’s growing independence. This isn’t such a bad thing, but I find that it tests my patience in ways that I wasn’t expecting. For a while, we were dealing with a toddler who didn’t want to get dressed in the mornings… and then only wanted to wear her princess dress-ups. At times, I didn’t care about this, but other times really strained me! It was only 8 am and my endurance was lost for the day… and so was my toddler’s!

I came across a little blurb out of Parents magazine in May that I wanted to share with you. As we implemented them into our routine, it really helped us get ready and stay in good moods!

Start them Sleepy – The article says that dressing your child when they first get up and before they can get out of their room will help things go more smoothly. When they have time to run around and play first, then they seem to be about to resist more.

Give lots of Loves – take some time to cuddle with your toddler to give a gradual wake up and help get their mood off on the right track. You could sing a song, read a book, or just cuddle.

Be Silly- make getting dressed a game. Put the shirt on your head or on your toddler’s feet – then let them correct you. It will help them not only laugh but feel in control – don’t we all like to feel in control?

For my husband and I, we find that these tactics work good on different occasions. Especially with my being pregnant, I can’t always get up before our toddler does so cuddling works great; however, when I have places to be the sleepy one works great. My husband, he loves the silly one, but that is his nature and it seems to work every time!