Toddler Struggle in the AM with Clothes and Shoes

yes, pick your battles. And know that the stage you set now will flow until he's an adult.

I stopped making an issue out of my daughter's clothes around this time. she had a drawer of acceptable pants and a drawer of acceptable shirts (which means they were "mom approved" - seasonally appropriate, in good shape, clean etc). From there she had free range and I kept my big opinionated mouth SHUT. Every once in a while we had a "mommy pick" event.... my mom's 60th birthday photos, Christmas dinner with the family, mother's day brunch. And then I get to pick out what she wore. Other than that it was all her deal. peer pressure will take care of this as he gets older.

You can put some parameters. Those pj pants can only be worn once a week - you pick the day. but I wouldn't make a big deal out of this particular scenario. Now is the time to give him (age appropriate) independence which will help you with potty training, school, etc.

The biggest thing is ..... don't let HIS behavior affect YOU. At whatever time you have to leave... then you have to leave. And if he goes without shoes.... well he goes without shoes. You're teaching him that HE's in control - easy to do, I know.

And good luck - sounds like you got a strong willed one!!!!!

Just my $0.02

He probably figured out when he gets dressed and puts his shoes on, that means "bye bye Mommy" and somehow thinks it is more comforting to keep the pjs on.

Try dressing him first thing in the AM before bfast. Pack a bag of his 'real' clothes to bring to school. When its time to leave and he doesn't want to get dressed, then just grab the bag and leave. At least you won't be late for work.

We have had the same issue with both my kiddos who are 4 and 2. We try to dress them while they are distracted with watching tv or even eating breakfast. I am a working Mom to and find it very frustrating to get out the door when the kids don't cooperate. I will admit, sadly, that I have become a briber :) with little things like a sucker after school or a small piece of a tootsie roll. Now that the weather is cooperating I try to bribe (if I need to) with going to the park or playing in the hose after school. Good luck to you and hang in there!!!

I say let him wear his pj pants and old sneakers with no socks. Pack a pair of pants and some socks.
It could just be a stall/delay/power play move and, honestly, you need to think outside of the box to get past those!
It's not worth the morning stress.
The daycare teachers have seen this a million times.
Good luck!

My 2 year old has started doing this too. Must be a stage (though my oldest never did it). He wants to stay in his pjs all day. He wants to go outside in them & play in the backyard in them. I'm a SAHM, so it has nothing to do with me leaving, no need for your to feel guilty about that. We too have different types of clothes & I often let him pick them out. I've even offered to let him put them on himself. None of that has worked. So, now I resort to asking, "do you need a time out? If you keep kicking you will get one". That has worked. So far I have not actually needed to give him a time out.
Good luck.

We have gone through this off and on for the past 6 months with our 2.5 year old son.

I tried offering him a choice of 2 or 3 items, or tried to just let him pick from the drawers. In his case, part of his problem is that he is a slow-to-wake-up kid and wants to sit on my lap or have me read books for an hour.

Giving choices sometimes helps, but mostly not, for our son. He just says no to both shirts, for example, and then when I tell him that he has to choose or I will, he cries when I ended up picking.

Some days, tickling and being silly or telling a story helps to "jolly" him out of him out of his bad mood enough to get him to stop fighting me about dressing.

The other thing that I've done, especially if I think time is an issue, is to dress him in his next day's clothes at night before he goes to sleep (heck, he naps in 'em during the day, so why not?). That can help, though I still have to change his diaper and deal with the fight over the pants on/off & diaper change.

When I'm really planning ahead and we aren't all trying to steal last minutes of sleep, I will wake him up early and let him warm up to the day on his own.

You could try changing clothes after breakfast, or at some other part of the morning schedule, maybe.

i noticed my son, same age, started doing the same damn thing! i'm like, wth?! i'm also late frequently too but make it up in the p.m. - have to to get paid. (i'm a single mom so it's not like daddy picks him up). anyway, he just wiggles & i get frustrated but I HAVE to do it. i figure it's b/c he doesn't wanna go & leave me! i'm all he has & vice versa. i tell him, "i know you don't wanna go to school (that's not the issue) but i don't wanna go to work either, but we have to". not saying that always works but i figure that's probly what's wrong so i just verbalize it for us both. i wish you luck. you're not alone in this a.m. struggle. i did have good luck in putting him to bed in what he was wearing the next day. 2 yr olds don't wear stuff like we do, so those sweat pants or wind pants, whatever they are, are ok to sleep in, as are t-shrts that match. just an idea! :)