At 22 months, Brooke and Mackenzie are finally able to undress and dress themselves completely. They can take off and put on shirts, pants, dresses, socks, shoes and jackets with very little or no help. I have to confess I do help them when I get impatient, which is more often than I’d like to admit! But they’ve demonstrated that given enough time, they can do it all on their own.

I don’t know if your kids are like this, but mine are pretty obsessed with clothing. Since they were six months old, we’ve always kept their clothes on an open, accessible shelf like this. They can come and play with their clothes and shoes as much as they want. They love to watch us get dressed and undressed and doing it themselves. Probably because I’ve given them so much liberty around this, all the practice they’ve gotten has made them very self-sufficient when it comes to clothing. 

Right now, this where they get dressed. You can’t see it in the picture, but this is right next to their work area. Getting dressed and undressing is just as interesting to them as using scissors or reading a book (if not more interesting on some days!).

On the top row, you see socks. They are obsessed with socks. On the second row are shirts and dresses. On the bottom row are pants, training pants and diapers. They are pretty much potty trained, but we do put them in diapers if we are going out for more than an hour or at night. And on the floor are their shoes.

I don’t interfere when they dress themselves. This means, on a weekly basis, you’ll find them wearing their pants backwards, two left shoes (from two different pairs of shoes, usually because they are sharing two pairs of shoes), two different colored socks, underwear over their pants, multiple jackets. etc. I think it’s hilarious, but I don’t correct them. If it doesn’t bother them, then it doesn’t bother me. What’s more important is the fact that they are capable of making decisions and following through on those decisions.

The weather just turned cold here in Baltimore so they are starting to put on jackets. I just installed these hooks on the walls for their jackets two days before this video. This is a good example of how we use this space in our home:

In the next post, I’ll show you a GREAT method for toddlers to put on their own jackets. They can’t do it the way we do it because their arms are too short, but wait till you see this!

Love these shoes. It is soft, which is excellent for young walkers. And when I say soft, I mean SOFT. There are many baby shoe brands that claim they are soft because you can bend the shoe when you apply adult strength. That does not qualify as soft for a baby’s developing feet.

These Swedish-made shoes are great for indoor walking and small amount of outdoor walking. They don’t come off easily because they wear more like a sock than a shoe. I’ve done my research on shoes and these really are the best. Read more about the best kind of shoes for your babies.

When your children are indoors, TAKE OFF THEIR SHOES. Children do not need shoes except to protect their feet. If they are outdoors or in school where they need shoes, put them in shoes that are SOFT, bendy and flexible.

Recommended Shoes:

• Soft leather shoes (these shoes are my favorite)
• Padded all leather shoes
• Chinese slippers
• Flexible sneakers
• Canvas mary-janes that are easy to put on (made in Japan)

DO NOT PUT YOUR CHILD IN THESE

• Crocs (the toe box is too big and distorts your child’s body scheme. Children in crocs can fall a lot)
• Hard leather shoes
• High-top shoes

But the best is NO SHOES AT ALL.