Do you iron your teenage son's shirts?

[ruadisneyfan2]

Ds15 has always like very plain clothes and would only wear solid color shirts, no v-neck, no stripes, etc. sigh....

Well, I guess HS is wearing off on him so around Christmas he wanted button down, plaid shirts. Luckily Kohls has lots of these on sale & with my 30% off coupon, we stock up & he's happy.

So of course they look awful if they're not ironed but he doesn't care. Until now. So tonight I teach him the proper way to iron a button down shirt. I'm a bit anal because I worked at a dry cleaners from age 16 until I graduated college. I want to teach him the correct way and if he chooses to take shortcuts that's up to him but he can't say I didn't teach him. It's taken him almost all evening to do 4 shirts.

Now I work FT and dh also likes button down casual type shirts. Since it takes me so long to iron & can't stand to spend half my little bit of free time on Sunday ironing, I take dh's shirts to the cleaners. For $1.25 they do what takes me 1/2 hr. He doesn't wear them often so I only have to go to the cleaners maybe once per month.

So while I type this, I'm watching ds15 iron his shirts and wonder if I should take them to the cleaners or let him struggle. I think it's good for him to know how to iron plus he has a lot more free time than I do.

I guess I answered my own question.

 

[Fyrefly]

He'll either get faster at it and cultivate a life skill or decide that as a 15 year old boy there are more important things in life to him than keeping his shirts ironed. (But it's fine if you do it! )

Seeing as it's hardly the worst he could do to them I'd let him wear them like that if/when it happens or if it really bugs you, you could add them to the drycleaning heap then.

 

[brymolmom]

I say let him continue to do it. Honestly - if he takes them out of the dryer immediately - they usually aren't too bad, it can't take too long to do it (at least it doesn't with ours unless you leave them in there). I LOVE that you're teaching your son to do this. It is a good skill to have. And, honestly, 10 years from now when he's 'just starting out' and on his own - he likely won't have the extra $$ for the cleaners - so it'll be a good thing that you taught him how to do it right and he had a bunch of practice.

I can't stand when people at work ask if I iron my husband's shirts. Just like you, OP, I work too - so why would people assume I would do it? Hate that gender stereotype. My dh is a MUCH better ironer than I am so he irons his own stuff. And the reason he is so good is that he lived on his own for about 12 years before we got together - that's a LOT of shirts he did by himself.

I say it's good for him and keep up the good work!

 

[MSSANDRA]

I would let him do it or choose to spend some of his allowance on the dry cleaning. Honestly, I would look for and invest in some the "no-iron" shirts. They really are not totally wrinkle proof but will be much easier to deal with.

 

[Hannathy]

I'd teach him how to take them out of the dryer while they are still dampish and hang them up to finish drying!!! Then the most they would need would be the front button placket(sp) and the collar.

I never dry shirts all the way, never.



By the way, What's her name?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Thanks. I was just feeling a tad guilty for sitting on my butt watching my kid work but hey, they do it all weekend while I do laundry and scrub showers etc so it won't kill him.
I love no iron shirts but they're harder to find in the styles he likes. He's has a strong preference for 100% cotton. He has 1 Kenneth Cole all cotton easy iron shirt but it was more than we usually spend on clothes, I'm not a Macys shopper, so that's for times when he needs to dress up a little.

I half considered offering to take his shirts to the cleaners if he pays for it himself but it felt mean somehow. I don't know. I hate all the second guessing of parenting.

Thanks eveyone! I feel better. Someday, his wife may thank me.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I'd teach him how to take them out of the dryer while they are still dampish and hang them up to finish drying!!! Then the most they would need would be the front button placket(sp) and the collar.

I never dry shirts all the way, never.



By the way, What's her name?

omg, he's so shy and dh teases too much so I think we won't hear about it for a while. There's a fine line of pressing him for info.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I'd teach him how to take them out of the dryer while they are still dampish and hang them up to finish drying!!! Then the most they would need would be the front button placket(sp) and the collar.

I never dry shirts all the way, never.



By the way, What's her name?

Thanks for the tip, I'll try that. My scrubs are so easy and I hang them right away from the dryer but those shirts are a bugger.

 

[saffsmom]

i would not be doing my teenage sons LAUNDRY let alone ironing his shirts!

you have taught him a valuable skill...only practice will make him better/faster at it

 

[mebbradley]

I'd say let him struggle!

But then again....I iron nothing. DF irons everything in our house :rofl

 

[eduk8r26]

My 21-year-old nephew is very picky about his clothes. Heaven forbid anyone dare to wash them except him. Everything but underwear, white t-shirts and socks must be line dried--as on an indoor clothes rack. His 13-year-old brother likes button shirts, but doesn't care if they are wrinkled or not. I remember when my youngest brother was 12 or so, he ironed his jeans. He is 56 and still irons creases in them!

 

[cornflake]

You feel guilty watching him "struggle" to iron the new shirts that you bought him, in the nice home you provide him with, with the iron you purchased, after he spent all day at school, not like, digging through a trash pile for scrap metal to sell? Really? </seth&amy>

Heh, sorry but if I were in your shoes... I'd be like 'you need practice, here's my ironing and your father's too' as I dumped a mound of clothing on him. It's not mean, it's a life skill and he should be doing basic things for himself and doing chores that help him realize what it takes to ... run a house, have a clean, neat wardrobe, have a meal appear on the table, etc. Kids don't just magically recognize the work that goes into those things and I think too many kids today end up in college or their first place looking around and wondering how come it's not like home, where that stuff was just taken care of for them.

He may choose to walk around wrinkled, or he may choose to spend his spending money on dry cleaning of his own accord (I wouldn't offer), but if you treat this like it's a task he's supposed to master and do, in 7 years, when he's living on his own, making no money and going to a job interview, he'll be capable of ironing his own shirt.

 

[badblackpug]

I have a 14 year old girl and an 11 ear old boy. I don't wash their clothes, let alone iron them.

 

[powellrj]

I remember when my DS went through this, not only did he wear button down shirts, he also wanted to wear a sports coat every day! I taught him to dryer dry clean those! He is now in college and is still picky about his clothes!

Keep having him do them himself, he will need to in college anyway.

 

[luvmy2babies]

Only the dress shirts he wore to church and it hardly counts as he didn’t live with us. He is my stepson and it was on his visits, so I wasn’t keeping him from learning what he needed to. He knew how to iron fine and ironed anything else he needed ironed.

My dh worked 6 days a week and I would be doing his shirt for church on Saturday while he was at work and would go to my stepson and just say "Hey, I'm ironing already check your dress shirt for tomorrow." Being in a suitcase it was usually wrinkled, so I'd just do my stepson’s at the same time, and my nephew’s too if he was there (and he often was).

I think it is great for him to learn. You’d be surprised how many guys didn’t know how to do laundry or anything when they got to school. I should have charged a fee for the lessons I gave out that first year. I could have made some money off the poor guys I ran into in the dormitory laundry room looking clueless.

 

[scrapquitler]

Ds15 has always like very plain clothes and would only wear solid color shirts, no v-neck, no stripes, etc. sigh....

Well, I guess HS is wearing off on him so around Christmas he wanted button down, plaid shirts. Luckily Kohls has lots of these on sale & with my 30% off coupon, we stock up & he's happy.

So of course they look awful if they're not ironed but he doesn't care. Until now. So tonight I teach him the proper way to iron a button down shirt. I'm a bit anal because I worked at a dry cleaners from age 16 until I graduated college. I want to teach him the correct way and if he chooses to take shortcuts that's up to him but he can't say I didn't teach him. It's taken him almost all evening to do 4 shirts.

Now I work FT and dh also likes button down casual type shirts. Since it takes me so long to iron & can't stand to spend half my little bit of free time on Sunday ironing, I take dh's shirts to the cleaners. For $1.25 they do what takes me 1/2 hr. He doesn't wear them often so I only have to go to the cleaners maybe once per month.

So while I type this, I'm watching ds15 iron his shirts and wonder if I should take them to the cleaners or let him struggle. I think it's good for him to know how to iron plus he has a lot more free time than I do.

I guess I answered my own question.

I'd guess that if you ventured into his school and you saw other teenage boys wearing similar shirts, that most of them are not impeccably ironed. Show your son the proper way to iron them, then show him that the shirt can look decent if you just take it out of the dryer, shake it out, hand smooth the wrinkly parts and hang it up. Then let him decide and deal with it himself.

If you are going to a special occasion, and you care, then iron the shirt that time. For everyday, let him figure it out.

 

[Jackie123]

I would not iron your teenage boys shirts because he is not going to pack the shirt right any way so I reccomend using a dryer and then folding them when they are warm. That is the best that you can do!