Winter Dressing Solutions
Children become frustrated and over-heated as they get dressed for winter outdoor activities. Help your child with the following suggestions:
- Put a child’s coat on the “magic way.” Spread the coat on the floor with the inside facing up. Your child then kneels or bends over the coat at the neck-end, slips her arms into the coat sleeves and flips the coat over her head. Flippycoat! There is a song that correlates with it, “Throw that jacket on it’s back, stand behind to begin your attack. Stick an arm straight up each sleeve get ready for the part that’s hard to belieeeve… flip it up high! Over the top! Give it a flip… til it pops to a stop.”
- Slip a plastic bag ( size of a bread bag ) over child’s socks to easily slide into boots
- Mark the inside edge of each boot – when the marks face each other, the boots will be on the “right” foot.
- Write your child’s name on boots using red nail polish or mark with a cotton swatch dipped in bleach.
- Wear mittens for small children – gloves are not developmentally appropriate and finger finding is frustrating!
- Consider using knee-high socks as mittens – they cannot be pulled off easily.
- Teach children to store mittens in their hats.
Children become frustrated and over heated as they complete the process of dressing – help speed up the process. Encourage your child to focus on solutions – self esteem is fostered when children can say “Look what I can do!”
