OT-Anyone make their teen do their own laundry?

[disney6family]

My kids all get their own laundry from the stacks on my bed and help hang up their clothes. Also, the two oldest 12 & 10, know how to completely do the laundry for the whole family, from sorting to folding. Since we always do laundry as a family, i.e. we don't do only our clothes, they take on this chore once a week, for a total of 3-4 loads. This is probably more than it would be if they just did their own and it is a huge help to me. But my children all have chores they need to do. There are six people living in our house and it takes all six of us to make it run smoothly. I am sure they are tired of hearing this but it is true.

 

[AmyinKY]

My dd 15 has been doing laundry for the whole family for the past year and a half. I went back to school full time and was working full time as well. Now that I am taking a break form school and not working, I am teaching my son (11) to handle the laundry as well. Now, if we could just get the bathrooms cleaned everyday and the house dusted and the floors taken care of every other day life would be great at my house.

Good luck
Amy

 

[MSSANDRA]

[

My boys can iron too.

Linda[/QUOTE]



I explained ironing to him today!

He was not excited.He has been washing clothes for years but I aways organized the job. Now he has total care duty for his clothes. Sounds like some great parents on here trying to raise good kids.

BTW- He says real men do not wear pink so might be fun to see what happens when he chooses to wash it all together. He does know how to sort but we will see. Thanks all, you guys are great.

 

[tadamom]

When I was a teen, if my sister and I didn't have our laundry in there when my mom was washing clothes -- they didn't get done and we had to do them ourselves. It taught us a lesson real quick.

I will do this when my children are older if they go through the same phase I did.

 

[mkycrzy1971]

Well after DS "forgot" again to get his clothes to the laundry room to be washed, and tossed his freshly folded stack of clean clothes on the couch to sit in the chair they were in, coupled with the fact that today he had 4x the amount of clothes that everone else had because he finds it necessay to wash something he was worn 10 minutes, I have given total care of his clothes to him!!

I know he can handle it , and I know it will cost me more in energy and soap BUT the point is to teach him a lesson. i cringe to think how wrinked he is going to look at church sunday. of course my mom said " poor baby", he can bring them to me but I vetoed that real quick.

How bad is it going to be??????????????

I started making my DD (now 15) do all of her own laundry at age 13...when she told me it was not her "job" to help clean up the dinner dishes because she did not dirty them!!! I decided that I did not dirty her clothes so she could wash them Since cleaning up after supper this one time was not her "job", I just decided to "hire" her and make it her full-time "job"...she now also must clean up the dinner dishes and clean the downstairs bathroom on a daily basis...silly girl should have kept her pie hole shut Kids these days think they have it so rough.... if only they lived a week in our shoes...I had a part-time job at a family business at the age of 13 plus had several daily chores around the house....I still managed to get good grades and become a productive citizen of society!!

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

I was about 12 when I complained about the way my Mom laundered my clothes. She had a great solution - yep, I was doing my own laundry. It did not harm me at all!!!

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

If he's anything like my sons you can expect one load of very dingy grey undershirts because he is in a hurry and throws everything in one load, one load of bright pink underwear because the red sweatshirt went in by "mistake", and the occassional load that sits in the washer/dryer for several days collecting mold. They eventually got it together.

My boys can iron too.

Linda

Wow...this sounds like my oldest DS! Glad to hear I'm not alone. When DS first started doing his laundry, every time I heard the washer start I had a mini nervous breakdown of sorts...we've done pink and grey clothes...also done where he shrunk his stuff up in the dryer where it was only suitable for a barbie doll to wear. Oh, the best was when DS ironed and melted his football jersey where it stuck to the iron. He learned quickly that he couldn't iron stuff like that and that is why I always complained that I had to get stuff out of the dryer as soon as it stopped! They learn though...trial and error.

 

[hidmickey:myantidrug]

I'm 16 now and I've been doing the whole family's laundry since I was 7.

 

[Mrs Potato Head]

Well, we tried to let the teenagers do their own laundry in our house. We have a European high efficiency washer/dryer set - because of a mistake the builder made when building the house, we had to either hang up or deal with ALL the clothes almost as soon as they came out of the dryer . Long story as to how this evolved...but painful for us to get laundry done for a family of 4....two DS's ages 13+ when all this was happening. We had the laundry quality complaints from oldest - let him do his own, but I had to continuously re-do MY laundry because he would dump it out of the dryer in a ball on the floor, or shove it in a basket so he could deal with his, and not tell me. Not to mention ALL his complaints about the quality of the $4000 washer dryer set we owned...it was terrible. And we should also mention that I had the specialty repair man here no less than 7 times to deal with small items trapped in the drain hoses which are the size of...a dime EXACTLY.

So about two years ago I declared myself SUPREME HIGH LAUNDRY COMMANDER. I posted their rules on their doors...when I would take their laundry, how long it would take to get back, etc. I clearly stated the penalties for things like not insiding out the socks (that's gross), not taking things out of their pockets (sharpies come to mind), and using the sorting area as a changing area instead of taking all their clothes to their rooms and putting it all away.

It's better now. I do all the laundry again, but in the process we have figured out a way to vent the room and bought a new dryer...so a load only takes about 2 1/2 hours now instead of 4....and the oldest son went to college!!!!!

He was the problem anyway...

 

[Praise2Him]

When my teens were about 18, 15 & 13 I was working, so I taught them how to do laundry and they were responsible for their own.

When I quit my job I took back over again, mostly because I'm one of the weird people who actually LIKES to do laundry! (Unfortunately, it's the only type of housework I like!)

Anyway, I do think it's a good thing for teens to know how to do laundry. Example: Last summer my DS17 went to a camp for 3 weeks (actually at WDW, staying at POR). This camp was for 14 - 17 year olds and when he came home he told me that he was the only one in his group that knew how to wash clothes, and he had to teach the others how to do it!

 

[LuvOrlando]

I didn't realize I was being progressive. I'm teaching my 8 & 9 yr olds to do laundry now... and cook (they don't use the stove but they help prepare our meals anyway). Under my supervision they are perfectly capable of doing the whole job and are very proud when they finish the task with Mommy

 

[northriver]

I think your son will do a great job! It is a really important skill to have. I taught DS to do laundry when he was 7/8 and when he was 11 he did all the family laundry through most of my last pregnancy - I sorted, he carried them down, washed/dried/carried back up, then I folded and put away. I don't know what I would have done without his help!

DS is 13 now and as long as he gets stuff into the laundry basket, I'll wash dry and then he folds and puts away. If he runs out of clothes he'll do a load of his own stuff, or I make him wear stuff out of the dirty pile! He does a great job with laundry, once in awhile he will toss a delicate in the dryer but I try not to complain, just remind him which things go on the line. (I sell kids my clothes on ebay when we outgrow them and some brands just do not hold up in the dryer!) Once he left a package of gum in the wash - aargh! - and I have washed his keys twice this week, but he's usually really good about emptying pockets.

I'm not sure how old I was when I learned to do laundry, but I remember that my parents paid me to iron everyones clothes starting in Jr High school. What I learned from that was how to hang up clothes immediately out of the dryer so I didn't need to iron LOL! My mother still spends all day on Sat. ironing and I only iron about once a month. I was also in Jr High when I learned to sew (in school!) and I started doing all the mending for my parents. Sometimes my parents STILL pull out a pile of mending for me to work on!

 

[Carnator]

When I was 9 yrs old, I had a favorite shirt that I liked to wear. Well this one time I wanted to wear it, it was dirty. I let my mom know how upset I was that my shirt was dirty and threw it down at her feet. Well after my dad's belt let me know how upset he was with my attitude, he told my mom that I was to do my own laundry from that time on. I did my own laundry until I moved out and my mom never touched it again. It was a good experience. When my other roomates had to take their laundry home to mom, I knew how to do my own. My wife and I are now teaching our 9yr DS to do his own,or at least help as much as possible

 

[badblackpug]

Here is the rule of laundry in my house. Everyone has a hamper in their room. When the hamper is full (and only when it is full) (You only get one hamper per day, so if you let your laundry go 3 weeks, you better get washing it yourself, or pick out what you really want clean that day.) They bring it down to the laundry room and leave it there. I wash, dry, fold, and return the laundry to the hamper, which I leave in the laundry room. It is then their responsibility to return it to their room and put it away. If it is not down by noon, it is not guaranteed to be done that day. If you have less than a full hamper, it is not getting washed. If you have that blouse that you absoultely, positively have to wear tonight or you will die a thousand deaths, then you will wash it by hand in the sink and hang it out. If you let your laundry go forever and now have no clean underwear, too bad. Laundry is done in the order it is received. I will get to it when I get to it. If you don't like my schedule, wash it yourself.

 

[Pumbaa_]

Loving the stories~ Growing up, I went to Catholic high school. WeI had the requisite plaid skirt. My mom thought it was too short. Every time it went into the wash, my mother would rip out the hem! I would go to wear the skirt (usually running late) and found it down to my knees! I was able to darn that skirt back up on mintes flat!

My mom did ALL the laundry growing up. I had to fold sometimes, but never actually do laundry. Really made it intersting when I got married (right after high school). It took me years to get good at laundry. I know am very good at doing laundry but my mom did not do my any favors by doing it all. Thank goodness my DH was onhis own for years and was able to do laundry.

So everyone having their kids be responsible and doing there own, good for you! It will really help them out in life later.