The child who hates new clothes
Cross-posted on DW.
My son is 3¾. And ever since he's been able to reliably express opinions about this kind of thing (so, maybe two years or more now), he has always hated new clothes and shoes (as in, ones he doesn't recognise, not ones that have had no one wear them). He resists being dressed in them strongly. Shopping is a nightmare with him escaping from shoe stores on his hands and knees screaming at the top of his lungs. Today after some talking and some wrestling he wore new pants to daycare, and funnily enough today was the first time in about three months he wet his pants at daycare. "Now I'm in my pants!" he said happily when I picked him up wearing his spare pants. (This could be a coincidence, I don't really know, but I have suspicions.)
Since he grows, refusal to wear new clothes is a problem!
He doesn't seem to be afraid of new stuff in general. For example, after a parent briefing about how he would be moved to the preschool class at daycare gradually and gently over the course of a month or more, he was allowed to spend a morning hour in the preschool class. Then he flat-out refused to leave and that day, he became the youngest preschooler by about six months. Likewise, he enjoys travel fine.
It could be sensory, maybe. He has some weak signs of aversions: eg, he also hates hates hates wearing sunscreen, and he is a picky eater. But I don't think he's outside the normal range for a child his age. And to the extent that he can explain, it's all about liking familiar clothing, not about it being physically uncomfortable.
Things I'm not willing to try:
My son is 3¾. And ever since he's been able to reliably express opinions about this kind of thing (so, maybe two years or more now), he has always hated new clothes and shoes (as in, ones he doesn't recognise, not ones that have had no one wear them). He resists being dressed in them strongly. Shopping is a nightmare with him escaping from shoe stores on his hands and knees screaming at the top of his lungs. Today after some talking and some wrestling he wore new pants to daycare, and funnily enough today was the first time in about three months he wet his pants at daycare. "Now I'm in my pants!" he said happily when I picked him up wearing his spare pants. (This could be a coincidence, I don't really know, but I have suspicions.)
Since he grows, refusal to wear new clothes is a problem!
He doesn't seem to be afraid of new stuff in general. For example, after a parent briefing about how he would be moved to the preschool class at daycare gradually and gently over the course of a month or more, he was allowed to spend a morning hour in the preschool class. Then he flat-out refused to leave and that day, he became the youngest preschooler by about six months. Likewise, he enjoys travel fine.
It could be sensory, maybe. He has some weak signs of aversions: eg, he also hates hates hates wearing sunscreen, and he is a picky eater. But I don't think he's outside the normal range for a child his age. And to the extent that he can explain, it's all about liking familiar clothing, not about it being physically uncomfortable.
Things I'm not willing to try:
- Not having him try things on. Well, for shirts we don't have him try them on. But he's slender and a lot of pants fall off him, and I have somewhat messed up feet from poorly fitted shoes, so I am also unwilling to just buy shoes that are approximately right.
- Having him go naked. Well, not out of the house. This isn't an argument I want to have with his daycare, and a pale-skinned kid in Australia needs to be covered up in the sun.
- Buying clothes that are especially attractive to him. He loved his bunny-and-tiger Threadless t-shirt straight away, for example. He generally accepts Thomas merchandise on the second or third try. But this is an expensive and exceedingly time-consuming way of acquiring clothing.
- Anything about getting bigger, stronger, older, etc. He doesn't actually believe he will, half the time. (He says he is going to grow little, stop talking, and live with the baby I'm currently pregnant with and they will be twins. Cute, but not useful to get him to agree to wear new bigger clothes.)