Teaching your toddler how to put on and take off their own underwear will greatly help with their potty training. Here are a few tricks to teach your toddler how to put on their underwear:
1. Lay underwear on the floor with the tag side closest to the ground. Touch the tag and say “tag” then point to the floor and say “floor.”
2. Have your child sit on the floor facing the underwear and make sure you are sitting behind them.
3. Tell them they have to use their thumbs to put their underwear on. While saying “thumbs,” take your thumbs and place them over the child’s thumbs to pick the underwear up.
4.Pull the underwear open while saying “open.” Typically a child will know to put a foot into the hole. They remind them to “push, pull” “push, pull.”
*TIP: If the child’s thumb slips off of the underwear, you can let your thumb go too and remind them that “you have to use your thumbs to put your underwear on.” This will harbor a sense of letting them know they are capable of doing it themselves and build their self esteem to know they CAN do it!
5.Then have the child stand up to pull the underwear all of the way up. They will have to hold the waistband with their thumbs and pull up. If they are looking to you for guidance, you can motion and say “pull up.” (Don’t forget to exaggerate your thumbs – even though how to put clothing on seems obvious to us adults, we had to learn too!