Kids Doing Their Own Laundry

My girls are 11 and 10 and do laundry. It started out that they were responsible for their own, however, I found out soon enough that they didn't care if they had clean clothes and it was actually me who was hurting when I wanted them to look decent and they didn't have anything acceptable... because it was all laying on their bedroom floor for the 3rd week in a row! The only solution I have found is that rather than making them responsible for their own and expecting them to care... which I can't force... they are responsible for completing one load of laundry each day as part of their chores. They wash whatever is in the laundry basket. They are being taught to sort it right... they have to show me the load before they put it in the washer so that I can correct it if need be. Making it part of their daily chores has made it a lot easier than expecting them to care about their clothes being clean or dirty when they want something to wear out to play with their friends.

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Hi there! First off, I think it is SO great that you want your kids to wash their own clothes. Kids doing chores is a lost art.
My daughter is 9, and has been doing her own laundry for about a year now. What finally worked for me after a couple of months of nagging, I mean reminding, was to make a chore chart for her. One of her nights was set aside strictly for laundry. I put a copy of it up on our fridge and another on the back of her bedroom door. The one thing I really had to stick to was, she was ONLY allowed to do laundry on her day, and that encouraged her to double check and make sure all of her stuff was clean. I work with a mom of 6 (bless her heart) and her kids had assigned laundry days as well, and it worked great.
Hope this helps! :)
J.

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I think it's a great idea to give them some responsibility like this as they get older. I have my seven year old take the laundry out of the dryer and switch the clothes from the washer to the dryer as part of her chore list.
However, I do think that they will need reminders. How about making a chore list for them? You can ask them simply, "Have you done your chores today?"
I also think it's important to keep their chore list short enough so it isn't overwhelming. Laundry can be overwhelming even for me and I'm an adult!!!

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I have a girl 13 and a boy that is 9. I did laundry for them both until I noticed that I was washing the same things over and over again in the same week. Nothing was making it into their drawers after I put it on the end of their beds. I then started having them sort their laundry by color and putting it in the correct laundry baskets. My son did great! My daughter on the other hand had to go to the 9 year old boy for help. He still does his part by sorting his own clothes and he does put them away in the correct drawers. The 13 year old started noticing that she was running out of clean clothes and started doing better at her part of the laundry. Sorting, changing loads, folding and putting away. I have a problem with them actually doing the laundry. Machine and water. With a 3rd child on the way, I am sure I will get over that soon. Any help they give me is great. It's just one step at a time with them.

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I think it is great they are doing it, I have found at that age you have to give them reminders to do just about anything though.lol. Good luck.

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My son is 2.5 and he loves helping me put laundry into the dryer. That is his job to help mommy! :) I don't think it's asking too much. I think it is great that you are teaching them responsibility. They will know how to take care of themselves, and that is a great thing. Just give them a friendly reminder. :) Good job mom!!

K.

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My Mom had me doing laundry as soon as I could reach or till I could get a chair to reach.I think now a days it is wonderfull that you are getting you'r kids to do there laundry.This is the 21st century girls should know how because one day they will be moms and they will need to know all the tricks on how to get it done.Boys will half to kus they should not rely on mom or wimen becaust they will live with out a women sometime.If he is with a girl when he is older not all wemen are the homemaker tipe.It is just good tranning for Independence.

Keep it up....Good job Mom!!!!!

Latz T.

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My 5 year old has a very "motherly instinct" and she has been working on the laundry - switching it from the washer to the dryer & sets the dryer & helps with folding laundry. My nine-year-old boy, I think he is ready to start learning to do the laundry now. I think 9 is a good age for that! :-)

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When I was younger, my Mom had a weekly chore chart for us. And doing our laundry was part of it....one day a week, I had to bring my laundry down stairs and help my Mom do it. Maybe if you had it on a chart so they didn't really have to be pro-active about it, maybe that would help. :)

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I am all for kids doing their own laundry. I think that at your kids ages, the last thing that their are thinking about is doing chores. To any kid it is their last priority. But if you keep reminding them then in the long run,they will thank you. Good luck and good for you for teaching your kids responsibility.

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Try giving each child a specific laundry day. That way they each can do their own laundry without getting in eachothers way and it's always the same day so they don't have an excuse for forgetting.

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Hello,
My son is now 15 and does his laundry. He doesnt all the time..but for the most part he does. I tought him when he was about 12. He would want certain things washed and I told him if he wanted it cleaned right away he is going to learn how to do laundry. I would praise him everytime he did it. I also told him...if he starts it in the washer I would be glad to put it in the dryer. Luckily this has worked for me. Now he will ask me if I have any whites or darks that need to get done. Good luck to you!

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My 9 year old still has some problems every blue moon with wetting the bed, so when morning comes he knows to do that himself. He is a huge help...but I usually have to ask or remind him. That seems normal to me, their kids with differant priorities then us. When we know laundry needs to get done, their thoughts are for from laundy...so I don't think theres anything wrong with a little reminder every now and then. They are old enough for sure. I was doing my two sisters, my mothers and mine at even younger ages. We did'nt have a dryer either so I had to hang them out everyday. ;-)

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Hi J.,

I started my kids doing their own laundry at similar ages. They did very well for the first little while and then began to "forget" we did the chore chart thing, it held very little interest for them, and I was making myself miserable reminding (nagging) them all the time.
So I stopped.
The first time they had no clean clothes it was shock and awe LOL, they couldn't believe I "forgot" to remind them 40 times that week. They have never let that happen again - sometimes one of them is doing laundry at 8:30 on a Sunday night for the next week but they remember now.
There is a lot to be said for the law of natural consequences....

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We have a 19 year old and 16 year old, both of which have been doing their own laundry for about 3 years now, and we still have to remind them at times to wash their clothes. We also have a 11 year old who has just started to do his own, and yes, he needs constant reminders. It doesn't matter whether it's laundry, doing their chores, homework, picking up after themselves...kids will always need reminders. Heck, I'm an adult, and I still need to write myself little reminder notes or ask my partner to help me remember something. I think it's perfectly natural for kids to forget (as well as adults), and part of our job as parents to guide them. If someone has a magic trick out there to help kids and parents remember everything, I sure like to know what it is. ~ K.

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I started doing my own laundry when I was about 10-11. I didn't like how my mom folded my stuff so I started doing it myself. =]

Maybe they could have their own laundry day. And you could remind them to get it started on that day. I think I got Wednesdays at my house.

By the way, I think it great that you're having them do their own laundry, especially your boy. I wish my boyfriend's mom had done that with her boys!! ;]

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Yes, my kids have been doing laundry for a couple of years now....I picked a chore day and that was the day they do laundry and in the morning I remind them to start it and sometimes I have to remind them to switch it too. My kids are now (boy)14 and (girl)10. I have told them if they don't get it done it's them who will be without clean clothes for the week. We've had a few fits over no clean clothes they seem to be doing better because they want to wear clean clothes.

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hi J., when i was there age i do our entire families laundry. my mom worked nights and was gone to school during the day so me and my sis did it together. So now that i have kids i want them to know doing the laundry is not just the moms job, they can do it themselves no matter what age they are. I doing the machine stuff(washer/dryer), since your kids are older they could do everything themselves and you could make a set of rules that you will not help, remembering to wash their clothes is part of growing up and getting ready for being on their own. and my kids(i have a 7 & a 5.5 yr old) do the sorting, folding and putting away of their clothes. even my h folds/puts away his own clothes, i all do is mine and the baby and towels/sheets etc. it is a big help that also helps teach responsibility. the sooner you start teaching them to do it the easier it will be. Good Luck!

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Hi J., I say great job mom! their ages are perfect.to start showing them how to help around the house. my daughters have a chart for the days that they are responsible for their laundry to be done.as well as other chores. it gets them the under standing of responsibilities. I say good job mom get them started right away. take them in there show what they need to do and then its up to them.what i also do as a reminder of their day coming up.I put a stick it note on their door. then their is no excuse why it could not be done. good job!

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i don't think it's too much to expect...they should feel lucky at thier age i had to do the families laundry.
Maybe try a schedule...dedicating certain days for each of them to do it, a calendar of sorts that they can mark off. You could try adding consequences, good and bad depending on thier actions. this would also help teach them responsability. i hope this helps.

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