Does your son need help every time he wants to put on or take off his sweatshirt?

It’s increasingly common to find kids’ clothes companies that offer clothing made with jersey knit fabric, not only the wooly ones but also “the t-shirt fabric”, that fits to the kids’ body and let them move comfortably.

It seems that the image of a little boy dressed with moccasins, dress pants, a shirt and a blazer; and the one of a little girl dressed with a lace dress, thin tights and Mary Jane patent leather shoes; is becoming less usual and set aside to Sundays or special occasions.

We can see that companies have assimilated the sport wear, and the fabrics that were original made for them, to the kids’ daily outfit. The sweatshirt fleece pants no longer are only used to exercise, nor the sweatshirts.

With those changes kids have increased their comfort level, and it’s thanks to the elasticity of the clothes that wear because they stretch easily with their movements.

On the other hand, I’d also like to shed light on the fact that it’s really usual to find identical garment, with the same design, just being sized up from babies to kids of ten years old. However, the kids’ skills, abilities and competences evolve with their age, and keeping the design intact through the different sizes it’s not always the best option.

Going back with the sweatshirt; the closed sweatshirt, the one that has nor a zip neither any other kind of closure at the front. This is one of the garments that we can easily find with the same design from babies to older kids.

And what happens with the closed sweatshirts?

From the day the kids are born to the age of two there’s no problem wearing a closed sweatshirt. As we are the ones who dress them, we just have to make sure that the sweatshirt is elastic enough to put it easily on the kid.

But when they are three years old the things change.
At this age, kids take an active part in dressing, not only taking off their clothes but also putting some of them on, in spite of not doing everything by themselves. And what happens with the closed sweatshirts is that the little ones from three to six years don’t have their motor skill developed enough to take them off and put them up without any help.

The garment’s width and also the fabric elasticity are also factors that have their influence in the difficulty of the process, but they are not the only ones.

It’s important you keep in mind that sweatshirts are warm clothing, so kids usually wear T-shirts under them. And as children change activities frequently, their corporal temperature is variable, with what they need to be more warmed up or less according to the game they’re playing.

As our goal is make kids the most self-sufficient as possible, it’s advisable that they can warm themselves up without being helped by adults. Encouraging that they gain autonomy habits with the clothes they wear and are also able to behave spontaneously and freely.

In the process of getting dressed and undressed a set of very difficult movements that demand different and complicated motions are being made. Kids have to correctly distinguish the consecutive actions because each one of them has to be well finished before moving forward to the next one, and for that reason is so important that kids learn to observe carefully.

Between the ages of three and six, kids start their potty training, to learn to eat by themselves, to be aware of the ambient temperature, to putt on and take off their clothes… they become conscious how they are related with the environment and what are the actions they have to do facing certain stimulus. The development is lineal and each kid does it at his own pace.

But what is common is that when they’re around six or seven years old they’re able to dress and undress themselves without any extra help. And this makes interesting again that from this age on we offer them closed sweatshirts.

Now is your turn, please, tell me the experiences you’ve lived with your children and their sweatshirts. Or any other related adventure that comes to your mind.
I’m really interested in knowing your experiences, so I’m all ears!
We’ll meet on the comments below.

All the best,
Laia

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