Helping your toddler to become independent

I have control issues. There, I said it.

I have come to the realization that my son is very very very strong willed and he isn't the kind of kid that appreciates my control issues.

His newest fascination is getting himself dressed from head to toe. Yes, you read that correctly. He wants to pick out his own clothes and get himself dressed. In the beginning it was cute.

When he was younger, sandals with socks were cute! Cringe!

Now that he's getting older, it's hard to get him to wear what I think he should wear without a fight.

I learned a really cool thing! Compromise! Yes, I know many people will say, he's 3! How the heck do you compromise with a 3 year old? You're his momma, he needs to do what you tell him to do.

Well, as much as I agree with this, and for the most part, I live by this creed, I've found that it hurt our relationship more than it helped. So, one day I decided to re-arrange his clothes and set them up as outfits in his clothes drawers. I organized his closet the same way. Instead of the shoes in the bottom of the closet, they're in bins and organized very nicely.

Here's an example of what they will look like in the dresser drawers. I put socks, t-shirts and underwear with the outfits too!




This way when he goes to get dressed, there are MATCHING outfits and they are always on point! This also helps when Daddy and big sister gets him dressed too!

These are shirts that I hang up in the closet and all they have to do is grab a pair of jeans to mix and match. He wears hats mostly everyday too so, I put the hats up on the top shelf of the closet and the plastic bins for easy storage of his shoes.




And this is a peek into his closet:


I rotate the outfits at the beginning of each week to switch up the patterns. It's been working like a charm. I think mostly because, he was with me in the room, helping me sort through clothes that he could no longer fit, and the best part, he was a part of the process, he was in on the fun! He knows which drawers are which. He knows the drawers for his pajamas and so on.

Now, when it's time to get dressed, I no longer have to cringe or squawk at what he has chosen to wear.

When Grandma came to visit she said DJ had a lot of clothes and shoes. Enough for more than one kid. Maybe I'm in denial. I honestly don't think he has a lot of clothes and shoes. Maybe he does. Grandmas are always right. I can't argue with that.

But, then again, buying clothes for kids is very addictive and one should never go down that road without a game plan. Always buy great quality clothes that are on sale. I rarely ever buy clothes that are full priced.
And I never let the kids play outside in their 'good' clothes. Especially not for a kid who's favorite activity is doing something like this on a daily basis.

Hah!