Do you do your teens laundry?

[mhsjax]

I went to college locally and lived at home, so I haven't witnessed this. I can't imagine a college student, male or female, not knowing how to do their laundry. I mean it isn't really THAT hard to operate a washer or dryer, I figure if you are smart enough to have made it to college, you should be smart enough to operate a washer and dryer!!! GUESS NOT!!!

I agree, these kids are playing dumb, if you can get into college you can wash clothes.

My mom was a SAHM, I was the baby so it was just the 3 of us. She thought it was silly for me to do my own laundry and a waste of water and electricity. She did it while I was at school. I did the occasional load on the weekends and I helped fold and put away. I got married at 21 and I have never ruined a load yet.

I don't believe that a college kid really can't do laundry, maybe they are just smart enough to convince everyone they know that they can't do it, so others will.

 

[torinsmom]

I do all the laundry around here. My mom did mine until I was in college and I learned to do it then. I feel like he will be out on his own soon enough.

 

[golfgal]

I haven't "put away" laundry since the kids were about 4. They have been doing laundry since they were about 10. They pretty much do their own laundry now.

 

[golfgal]

I went to college locally and lived at home, so I haven't witnessed this. I can't imagine a college student, male or female, not knowing how to do their laundry. I mean it isn't really THAT hard to operate a washer or dryer, I figure if you are smart enough to have made it to college, you should be smart enough to operate a washer and dryer!!! GUESS NOT!!!

I had to teach about half my dorm how to do laundry when we started college. No, they were not dumb, just never had done it before. It wasn't so much the operation of the machine but how to sort, how much soap to use, which clothes to wash in which temps, etc. I am sure every single one of them could have figured it out on their own, but it was easier to have someone show you.

I had a roommate in college that senior year did not know how to wash dishes, change a roll of toilet paper, etc. because she NEVER had to do anything at home. Her mom was of the thinking that "she would have to do this on her own soon" so she never taught the kids how to do anything.

 

[punkin]

I had to teach about half my dorm how to do laundry when we started college. No, they were not dumb, just never had done it before. It wasn't so much the operation of the machine but how to sort, how much soap to use, which clothes to wash in which temps, etc. I am sure every single one of them could have figured it out on their own, but it was easier to have someone show you.

I had a roommate in college that senior year did not know how to wash dishes, change a roll of toilet paper, etc. because she NEVER had to do anything at home. Her mom was of the thinking that "she would have to do this on her own soon" so she never taught the kids how to do anything.

DD18 knows HOW to do laundry. In fact, at home she does do laundry, but for some reason at school, it never gets done and she comes home with bags and bags of dirty clothes.

Also confusing to me is why and how everyone does their own laundry in a household. I do most of the laundry for everyone, but when my girls do laundry, they also do it for everyone. It seems a waste to do separate loads. If you separate clothes by color (which we do), we have green/yellows, reds, blues, lights, darks, and whites. I could never make a full load with just one person's clothing.

 

[golfgal]

DD18 knows HOW to do laundry. In fact, at home she does do laundry, but for some reason at school, it never gets done and she comes home with bags and bags of dirty clothes.

Also confusing to me is why and how everyone does their own laundry in a household. I do most of the laundry for everyone, but when my girls do laundry, they also do it for everyone. It seems a waste to do separate loads. If you separate clothes by color (which we do), we have green/yellows, reds, blues, lights, darks, and whites. I could never make a full load with just one person's clothing.

If the kids need something washed, they put together a load-using whatever clothes are around. I do not let them do partial loads. We have sorting bins in the laundry room and there is always something in there so making a full load is pretty easy. We sort by bleach whites, non-bleach whites, lights, navy, dark greens, reds, etc.

DS18 always did his laundry before he came home so I never had to do his this year. He came home on Wednesday and had all of his clothing clean. His bedding needed washing so we tossed that in when we came home. That is all done now.

 

[princesshannahsmom]

I had to teach about half my dorm how to do laundry when we started college. No, they were not dumb, just never had done it before. It wasn't so much the operation of the machine but how to sort, how much soap to use, which clothes to wash in which temps, etc. I am sure every single one of them could have figured it out on their own, but it was easier to have someone show you.

I had a roommate in college that senior year did not know how to wash dishes, change a roll of toilet paper, etc. because she NEVER had to do anything at home. Her mom was of the thinking that "she would have to do this on her own soon" so she never taught the kids how to do anything.

To the bolded part. See, that is my point, she DOES need to do it on her own, so why not TEACH her how to do it? I can understand feeling that a child or teen is too busy to worry about household chores (not that I am in this category, I am busy too!), but you can at least teach them HOW to do them.

 

[4greatboys]

The concept of making everyone in my family do their own laundry is just odd to me. I can't imagine how many more loads would go through the washer and dryer with everyone doing their own
I would rather combine the loads and save water, electricity, laundry soap, etc. Plus I'm a SAHM so it part of the things I contribute to the household. Everyone else is in school all day then homework (never a shortage of homework), or at work all day. Why would I not do it?

 

[mhsjax]

The concept of making everyone in my family do their own laundry is just odd to me. I can't imagine how many more loads would go through the washer and dryer with everyone doing their own
I would rather combine the loads and save water, electricity, laundry soap, etc. Plus I'm a SAHM so it part of the things I contribute to the household. Everyone else is in school all day then homework (never a shortage of homework), or at work all day. Why would I not do it?

I thought I was the only feeling this way. I am a SAHM, so yep I feel it is my responsibility. I wonder how many here that have kids doing the laundry are working moms, that I can sort of see, but I am sorry, if you are a SAHM and you have your kids doing their own laundry all the time, then you are passing part of your job off to family members that already have jobs. Not saying that they shouldn't help, but I have seen several saying their kids do all their own laundry and have been for a while. LIke I said if you are a working mom great, but is a SAHM, that concept I don't understand.

 

[DVCLiz]

I thought I was the only feeling this way. I am a SAHM, so yep I feel it is my responsibility. I wonder how many here that have kids doing the laundry are working moms, that I can sort of see, but I am sorry, if you are a SAHM and you have your kids doing their own laundry all the time, then you are passing part of your job off to family members that already have jobs. Not saying that they shouldn't help, but I have seen several saying their kids do all their own laundry and have been for a while. LIke I said if you are a working mom great, but is a SAHM, that concept I don't understand.

I don't agree with this at all. Laundry is just not that difficult for anyone to do, and if a parent - either working or stay at home - decides it's time for the children in the family to learn the skill and do it themselves, there shouldn't be any judgement about it.

In my opinion, a stay at home mom is there for the parenting/childcare aspect. If she stayed at home and also had a fulltime nanny, I can maybe see being judgemental about it. (Although actually if that's a decision that had been made equally between the husband and wife I personally wouldn't care about that, either.) But how and why a stay at home mom chooses to handle the housework is just a matter for each family to decide - not a "job responsibility" that is only hers to do.

If you've chosen to assume all the household work as a stay at home mom, that's the choice you and your family have made. Don't assume everyone else's family would choose exactly the same way you did.

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

My children are not old enough yet, in my opinion, but I do not think they will do their own laundry while they live at home. We have 99% of our laundry sent out, so nobody in our house really does it, and we have a person who helps around the house who puts it away for all of us, so it's best to not get in the middle of that process. The 1% that is done usually involves something that spilled and will stain if not washed immediately, so we throw it into the washing machine to prevent that.

My DW and I know how to do laundry, obviously, and we will teach our children how to do it before they head off to college in 12-15 years, respectively, but they have other responsibilities as "chores".

 

[mhsjax]

I don't agree with this at all. Laundry is just not that difficult for anyone to do, and if a parent - either working or stay at home - decides it's time for the children in the family to learn the skill and do it themselves, there shouldn't be any judgement about it.

In my opinion, a stay at home mom is there for the parenting/childcare aspect. If she stayed at home and also had a fulltime nanny, I can maybe see being judgemental about it. (Although actually if that's a decision that had been made equally between the husband and wife I personally wouldn't care about that, either.) But how and why a stay at home mom chooses to handle the housework is just a matter for each family to decide - not a "job responsibility" that is only hers to do.

If you've chosen to assume all the household work as a stay at home mom, that's the choice you and your family have made. Don't assume everyone else's family would choose exactly the same way you did.

You rare right, it isn't that hard, that is my point. And yes SAHM are there for parent/childcare but why when my DH works and all my kids go to school full time and I am here for at least 6 hours a day, would I expect my kids to do all their laundry. Now, I never said they shouldn't do any, and they help and fold and sort and put up, they also do other chores, but as I stated there are posts saying that their kids have done all their laundry from a fairly early age, and if they are a SAHM then I am wondering why don't they do it as a general rule.

And yep, it isn't for to decide, but hey, someone asked so I answered, that is what we do here.

 

[jillyb]

Also confusing to me is why and how everyone does their own laundry in a household.

I wash my and DH's clothes. The girls wash theirs. They only wash their clothes once a week so they've got a week worth of clothes in their respective hampers. I sort clothes by water temperature (except for towels then it's a pile for dark and a pile for white) so I'll have a pile for cold water, gently cycle and warm water. There's not much that has to be washed on the gently cycle so I'll wait until I have a full load before washing those regardless of whose clothes they are.

 

[dis-happy]

I thought I was the only feeling this way. I am a SAHM, so yep I feel it is my responsibility. I wonder how many here that have kids doing the laundry are working moms, that I can sort of see, but I am sorry, if you are a SAHM and you have your kids doing their own laundry all the time, then you are passing part of your job off to family members that already have jobs. Not saying that they shouldn't help, but I have seen several saying their kids do all their own laundry and have been for a while. LIke I said if you are a working mom great, but is a SAHM, that concept I don't understand.

I'm a SAHM who homeschools. My whole thing with laundry (and similar chores) is teaching the kiddos life skills. My boys know how to clean their bathroom and cook some basic things, my dd was taught how to check her oil and change a tire.

I like doing things around the house so teaching them had less to do with me doing it or not doing it, but more about them needing to learn so they could be successful on their own one day.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

I don't have teens yet, but when I was growing up (single working mother with three kids), we were expected to do our own laundry (start to finish) when we turned 12. It was surprising when I met DH in college and he was washing in clothes in fabric softener because he had never "learned" how to do laundry! When one of my brothers went to college, he was the only one out of 3 roommates who had ever done his own laundry.

 

[DVCLiz]

You rare right, it isn't that hard, that is my point. And yes SAHM are there for parent/childcare but why when my DH works and all my kids go to school full time and I am here for at least 6 hours a day, would I expect my kids to do all their laundry. Now, I never said they shouldn't do any, and they help and fold and sort and put up, they also do other chores, but as I stated there are posts saying that their kids have done all their laundry from a fairly early age, and if they are a SAHM then I am wondering why don't they do it as a general rule.

And yep, it isn't for to decide, but hey, someone asked so I answered, that is what we do here.

Obviously they don't do it as a general rule because they have decided that, for their family, they'd rather do it differently.

In the same way that I've decided, for my family, that none of us should be doing laundry, so I pay a housekeeper to do it for us. And I am now a stay at home mom - although technically I am retired with a DD17 so it's just the two of us at home now - not much "SAHM' stuff for me to do anymore!!

I could easily do all the laundry for my family and I have all day every day to get it done - but I choose not to. Works for my family and if anyone wants to judge me for it have at it but it doesn't bother me in the least.

For the record, both daughters learned to operate the washer/dryer, sort and pretreat clothes, etc. when they were in middle school and have done their own when away at camp, etc. DD22 was easily able to transition from having her laundry done to doing it herself at college - it took her about a minute to figure out how the college washer was different from ours and away she went.

 

[luvsJack]

Like another pp said, I am too picky, and I pay way too much for clothes to let my kids do laundry. they aren't careful enough about spots and pretreating.

Now, they will separate, hang, switch from washing machine to dryer, fold and put away. They will do towels, but no anything else.

When they pay for their clothes, they can take a chance on ruining them. Or actually next year when I return to school I will probably check for stains and them let them do it, but for now, no.

I have actually found it to be the opposite.

Since dd is only doing her own clothes, she has more time to look for spots and pretreating. And she doesn't want to take a chance on anything shrinking so she hangs all her shirts up to dry.

When my sons did their own clothes, the one actually doing the laundry may not care too much about the other's clothes but each of them got pretty careful about treating stains when they took the clothes off.

 

[mhsjax]

I'm a SAHM who homeschools. My whole thing with laundry (and similar chores) is teaching the kiddos life skills. My boys know how to clean their bathroom and cook some basic things, my dd was taught how to check her oil and change a tire.

I like doing things around the house so teaching them had less to do with me doing it or not doing it, but more about them needing to learn so they could be successful on their own one day.

I agree, I NEVER said not to teach, I said having them do it all.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I generally do the laundry during the week, because I'm home the most then, but DH does an equal or better share on the weekend. DS will be learning to do it this summer, just for the sake of learning, but won't have to do it all the time.

 

[mhsjax]

I have actually found it to be the opposite.

Since dd is only doing her own clothes, she has more time to look for spots and pretreating. And she doesn't want to take a chance on anything shrinking so she hangs all her shirts up to dry.

When my sons did their own clothes, the one actually doing the laundry may not care too much about the other's clothes but each of them got pretty careful about treating stains when they took the clothes off.

My kids aren't that caring. lol. They would just throw it in.