The temperatures are getting cooler and the rain is returning… At the same time when Pauline wants to choose her outfit alone. To avoid wearing dresses and sandals in the middle of winter, here is advice from Héloïse Junier, psychologist specializing in young children.
Teaching a child to dress themselves is a process that can take time. Around 12 months, the child begins to cooperate in dressing by stretching his arms, legs or feet. From the age of 18 months, he managed to lower his pants and remove his vest on his own. At two and a half years old, he knows how to unbutton his coat and undress himself. Then at three years old, he is almost able to put on his clothes on his own, even if the result is not perfect.
Letting your child choose their clothes alone is an excellent way to develop their autonomy and promote their self-confidence. “In practice, it is possible to let a child dress himself as soon as he wants to, which varies greatly from one child to another. In general, it is around 2/3 years of age that some children can begin to express a specific desire for one item of clothing rather than another, to move towards flashy colors or shiny clothes.“, explains Héloïse Junier, psychologist specializing in early childhood, doctor of psychology and author of the comic book My Baby Life (Dunod, 2021). For others, it can come later, around 5 or 6 years old. We can then start letting him choose his clothes to a certain extent by cooperating with him on the choice of clothes and if it takes time, we can do it the day before.
But what to do if the child does not choose clothing suitable for the outside temperature? If it is interesting to let the child choose his clothes to promote his autonomy, there is no question of letting him wear clothes that are out of sync with the weather: “You should know that young children have first-level thinking, which is quite rudimentary: they choose a piece of clothing on the basis of its aesthetic or comfort characteristics. They are unable to consider all the external parameters. the clothing itself, like the weather, whether the ground is muddy or not. The child’s desires must therefore always be put into perspective with the constraints and environmental factors.“, explains Héloïse Junier.
For example, we can explain to him that he cannot wear sandals in the middle of winter because it is raining and cold outside. In this case, the child is offered a multiple choice: do you prefer to wear boots or closed sneakers? In this way, we increase our degree of cooperation and avoid – we hope! – great frustration when going to school.
The best way to promote the child’s autonomy is to let him put on the clothes he wants, as long as he does it himself, in order to encourage his autonomy and motivation as much as possible. “In any case, he will quickly realize that it does not work if he puts on the pants before the underwear,” quips the specialist.