I taught my 11 year old son to DO HIS OWN WASH!!
I cannot even tell you how awesome this is for two reasons!
The first reason is obvious -- less wash for me!! Before when I'd go collect the kid wash after going a few days without doing it, it would be overflowing and equal more than one washer load full. Now, with the oldest child's dirty clothes going into HIS OWN HAMPER, when I collect the kid wash for the remaining 3 children, it now fits into one washer load! It's not even just one less child's wash to do, but my 11 year old's clothes are the biggest. Three pairs of his long jeans is a lot of washer space! Also, he wears a second set of clothes on the days he goes to his swim team practice because they do dry-land workouts before they swim!
The second reason him doing his own wash is awesome is that it is a chore that has its own built in consequence! Other chores like assigning him a bathroom to clean or picking up the dog mess in the backyard he can skip and not really feel any pain from not doing his chore unless I give him a consequence for not doing it. But if he doesn't do his wash, he DOESN'T HAVE CLOTHES TO WEAR! It's as simple as that!
My kids do not have a ton of chores, but I do feel it is good for them to have jobs around the house to learn responsibility and cut down on that attitude of entitlement and the idea that mom is there solely to serve them! And besides, doing laundry is a life skill, and he might as well learn now when I'm there to coach him on fabric softener and water temperatures!
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This is great! I can't wait until my kids are old enough to do their own wash. I feel like I am constantly washing clothes! Especially since my youngest spits up on everything!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a good life skill to learn too. I can't tell you the number of kids who go to college and have no idea how to use a washing machine.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter has been doing her own laundry for years now, ever since she decided that she didn't want her brothers' clothes tainting her own. The only problem I've had is that we have to coordinate loads or I go to put something in the washer and it's already running.
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