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When kids start doing their own laundry?

Discussion in 'Schoolgoers & Teens' started by Rihana, Apr 29, 2015.

  1. Rihana

    Rihana Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    If a household has modern washing machine (and maybe dryer), and clothes are not washed by hand (or at the river :)), when is a good age for children to start doing their own laundry?

    Is it important for kids older than a certain age, let's say 14 or 15 or 16 to always do their own laundry? Or, if they know how to do it, that is enough, and their time is better spent on other things like studies, reading, dreaming, sports, learning other new skills, or just lazing?

    My other question is that if kid does his/her own laundry, doesn't it take too long for enough dirty clothes to collect to fill the washer?
     
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  2. tashidelek2002

    tashidelek2002 IL Hall of Fame

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    Seriously, how long does it take to sort clothes and turn on the washer? Recurrence: once a week? And I don't know about your washer, but mine does small loads. This is one of those easy chores that imho all kids should do. I think I was doing my laundry by the time I was 13, my mother being busy and chronically late on everything. I also remember ironing my shirts at the age of perhaps 11 but thank God those ironing days are gone now.
     
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  3. JustAnotherMom

    JustAnotherMom Platinum IL'ite

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    DD started folding her cloths probably at the age of 13 or 14 when she was in her mean teen years. I did not ask her her fold her cloths, she just didn't wanted me to make her room has " hang out" place. She started doing her laundry maybe like 6 months ago ( almost 16 now) when we fought and I declared I'm not gonna do anything for her here after :D and she said " thank you very much" After we became best friends again, now some days she do her own laundry and some days when I go to her room and see a full load of laundry i just do it. No real rules.

    Note:- She makes her own BF and Pack her lunch from 11 years, and started making after school lunch( noodles, pasta, soup etc) for herself and brother from the age of 13.

    My DS who is almost 11 now folds his clean cloths and keep it. We can not trust him and leave him alone, so me or DH will do the supervision ( mostly putting away other things which is laying around in his room) or he will just stuff everything to the closet and run away. He doesn't do his laundry yet, but brings the dirty cloths from up or take the clean cloths to upstairs on demand.
     
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  4. Rihana

    Rihana Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Tashi, I was hoping you'd respond.

    How long does it take to sort clothes and turn on washer? Well, just as how long it takes to pick up a few things lying on the floor, or how long it takes to renew an overdue library book! Meaning - actual time is short, but it ends up taking much longer.

    So, let's put that aside. Kid should be disciplined enough to do that chore quickly. OK. But, given a teen girl's average pile of clothes - 2 will be dark colored jeans, 2 will be delicate-wash.. just the colors make it two piles. Maybe as a family (of four) we for some reason have fewer dirty clothes... but, every four days or so, I have two reasonable piles.

    I may be wrong, but water and energy conservation dictates that we do the family laundry as a unit. We just get all the clothes down, and I, DH do it, or the kids, or them and I. My kids (same age as JAM's ) can do the laundry of the whole family, if needed, including sorting, deciding which do not go to dryer, and folding, plus putting away in each closet.

    The way I look at it so far is that - I knew how to clean the toilet (Indian style squatting kind and pour phenyl etc) in India, but did it rarely. Came to the U.S. and have been washing toilets ever since. :) Knew how to cook,but perfected it only after 2-3 years of independent living. So right now I tend to think if kid knows how to do it, and does it happily enough on occasion, chores becoming a habit can wait. I'd rather spend that time interacting with them, listening to them, going out, or introducing them to other things like money management, forming opinions...
     
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  5. tashidelek2002

    tashidelek2002 IL Hall of Fame

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    Rihanna:
    Actually I would doubt, given kids' schedules, that doing laundry routinely is out of the question. My point is for kids to know how to do it and do it enough that it is not torture. Do it if Mom is sick and Dad is out of town.

    As to combining loads, I have to admit to a personal bias: I hate my laundry to be mixed with other people's. Period.

    You know it's actually quicker to do your laundry (but far more expensive ) at the laundromat. Do all the loads at once. Back in the day one could do all the loads at once, take them home and hang them on the line and go off and watch a baseball/softball match while they were drying. Or go shopping.
     
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  6. butterflyice

    butterflyice Local Champion Staff Member Platinum IL'ite

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    My 4 year old loves helping me fold clothes. The 7 year old can sort, put clothes into the washing machine, pour liquid and feed quarters. He can cook rice too :)

    Like @Rihana says, its more economics than delegation at my place too. I do know that they can fend for themselves if I am not around.

    PS: I started washing my clothes (no washing machine and all, only by hand) at 11. This meant that laundry was a breeze when I moved out of home :)
     
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  7. Srama

    Srama Finest Post Winner

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    My 12 year just started mowing my lawn this spring :) and I am super excited. It is similar to what @Rihana says - to help them know and for me to feel comfortable that they can handle. When my DS was fretting about the grass clippings left behind, and wants the yard to look good, I asked him if he likes mowing and to that he simply said "Ahhh...well, it is better than sitting around anyways!!" That was a huge huge eye opener for me. I realized I need to be the one gently nudging them. My younger one of course feels bad that she is not allowed to help but at 8, there is no way I will let her go near that mower....she is all little girl bringing water asking if I need it, if she should make lemonade and such! As for laundry, so far it is only moving from washer to dryer and bringing up the baskets. I talk to both of them the importance of doing all the chores with out any reward and they seem okay. They are both pretty good at some basic cooking...pasta, microwavable stuff, PBJ etc. of course DD always under supervision. She claims she loves baking and I am terrible at it so much so that I can burn the cookies that I make from store bought dough. But she doesn't give up on me and we are getting ready to bake some oat meal cookies from the scratch! As for their rooms, while I do give them 'the talk' almost every day, the one thing I do is clean up with them while chatting and putting away stuff. They seem to like it that way...so we are learning slowly. My DS knows that I will work him in all areas for the next couple of years :)
     
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  8. Shanvy

    Shanvy IL Hall of Fame

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    Mine started folding clothes as young as 4. and dd wash her clothes by 8. and especially the inner garments. with the washing machine, i do not have a dryer, they wash all the clothes segregated..the fast colors and the others separate by themselves. one of the does it. they dry them too on the clothesline and fold them too if i am sick.


    other times i do it. i believe in water and energy conservation. so it is a family laundry done together. the ones where color runs are washed by hand mostly by dd (mostly it is her's)

    these days if my son is around and he sees me dragging the basket to the clothesline he will offer help. he will tell me that you go and relax, i will dry. (i have a big grin on my face as i write this.@rihana more than the chore, it is the voluntary offering by observing things around him that has put that, and i believe that is more important to be developed) and the same way he offers to do the dishes in the sink. (will dil be happy!! or have someother complaint, i have the audacity to think aloud on these matters only in ri's thread :biggrin2:)

    knocking on wood though. for a guy known for the being so disorganized, he makes his bed, arranges his books, and washes the toilet alternative days. (sigh!, i was so scared and restless for the last year, wondering how he will manage if he goes to a hostel, now i know he will)

    Right now dd is away on a internship. she is managing the show herself. cooking,cleaning, and yes making her plait..(what is so special about making her own plait, it is because she has long hair that takes more time )

    and both started learning and doing basic cooking from 10. now they do can manage a nice dinner on their own..

    and many a day it is a teamwork..be it cooking or cleaning the house. we keep talking as @srama says and they love it. infact some of the wonderful discussions take place while cooking..
     
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  9. CrayoNess

    CrayoNess Platinum IL'ite

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    I have teached them how to do laundry when in their early teens. They took from "general" laundry basket to fill up the machine when they were washing. I did mostly the laundry but now and then they run a machine. They also helped in folding and putting their own clothes back in the cabinets.

    I tried to teach the basic stuff (cooking, cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping) before they moved out. I also encouraged them to earn their own money buy working summer holidays and evenings/weekends when they were in their late teens. One area where I could have done better was the "paper work", how to fill in tax return forms, handling bank accounts (actually they got their accounts when they were 15), paying bills etc.

    All this are skills they will need when they move on their own.
     
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  10. Pankajdas

    Pankajdas New IL'ite

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    When they become independent .i.e 10-12 years old.
     
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