Needing Help With Clothes

For the second day in a row, Kate came into the kitchen and asked, “What can I wear?” I asked if she would like me to pick out something for her. She said yes. It is obvious we are going through a transition. It doesn’t seem that long ago that she didn’t want me to help with the selection of clothes at all. She actually resented it. Over the years, she has accepted more involvement from me. I have attempted to respect her desire for independence in this area. I have tended to get involved only when we were going somewhere that would call for something a little nicer than her everyday clothes. I have also asked her to change clothes when they had gotten too dirty from working outside. That is something about which I have become much more accepting than in the past.

I feel her struggle for independence has been a good thing. It saddens me to see her turn over her clothes to me. That is one of the last things she has been able to do almost completely on her own. The primary way in which I try to help her is by picking up clothes that have been left in various places around the house and putting them in the laundry or back in the closet if they are clean. I also try to keep her clothes somewhat organized. I have never taken all her clothes out of the closet and started over. What I have done is to move her clothes so that the ones she wears regularly are all at the front of the closet, pants on the right side and tops on the left. I also arrange the clothes by color. I am not sure that it helps her, but it helps me when putting her clothes up or getting clothes out for her.