While parents are preparing to send their children off to college, they try to think of all the material items to take with them to supply their dorm rooms. One thing that some parents don't think of, is showing your child how to do his/her own laundry.
Last year, my nephew in college was approached by a fellow student, who complimented him on his every day appearance and wanted to know the secret of how to make your clothes look neat. My nephew explained "how to". The fellow student wanted a more 'hands on' approach. He asked if my nephew could accompany him on his next wash day to see what he was doing wrong with his laundry. My nephew agreed. My nephew, with his own clothing, showed the fellow student how to sort clothing, which products to use and why, how to dry on certain temps and why, how to fold or hang, etc. The fellow student was in awe, as he'd never been shown all the procedures. His Mom had always done the wash, as most do. He'd never took the time to learn the techniques or the art of proper laundry.
As when my nephew asked how the fellow student had been doing his laundry, the young man lifted up his collapsible laundry bag filled with dirty laundry and stuffed it in the washer and turned on. Added the detergent!! LOL, as funny as this is, my nephew said the young man would have continued to put the laundry bag filled with clothes, in the dryer, too. That's one Mom who won't be having to wash a mountain of dirty clothes that come home from college, and can spend precious time with her college son.
Laundry sorting was my special job when I was a little kid. When I was tall enough to see into the machine, I was allowed to wash everything that got washed in hot water without bleach (dark colored socks and towels, pale socks and towels that didn't need bleach but would certainly turn funky colors if washed with the dark purple towels). By junior high, I was doing half the household laundry.
About the same time -- when I could see above the kitchen countertops and the stove, and was smart enough to know when I needed to use a stepping stool rather than just climb up on everything -- my mother started putting me in charge of dinner. While she made breakfast and packed lunches, I'd stick beans and meat in the crock pot and turn it on. After school, I'd add chopped onions and peppers that my mom and I had cut up the night before and left in the fridge. She'd come home at 5:30, add spices, wait fifteen minutes, and serve a really great soup. One pot of soup like that would be enough for several meals that week.
It's never too early to start teaching your kids important self-sufficiency skills. It's never too late, either. I'm teaching a 30-year-old friend how to cook for the first time in her life, so she can stop wasting hundreds of dollars eating out and buying pre-made meals all the time.
I taught my sons to do their own laundry when they were 5 and six years old. We always had baskets to sort into -- whites, colored, jeans, whatever . When they are a little bigger, post the directions on how to run the machines above them. If they can read, they can certainly do their own laundry. Any kid going to college who can't figure out how to read the detergent box to do laundry is in BIG trouble.
I taught both of my kids to do their own laundry when they were seniors in high school, figuring we had a year in which to straighten out problems. They both complained mightily, but my son afterwards said that it was good training, because he knew exactly what to do when he went away to college, so it was one less stress to deal with.
MY CHILDREN WERE TAUGHT AT AN EARLY AGE TO DO LAUNDRY. I WORKED AND WITH 3 CHILDREN ALWAYS ON THE GO IT SURE HELPED ME OUT. ALTHOUGH ONE TIME I REMEMBER WELL MY SON WAS A TEENAGER AND HIS HAMPER WAS OVERFLOWING, I TOLD HIM I WANTED IT ALL DONE BY THE TIME I GOT HOME AND IT WAS...I ASKED HOW MANY LOADS DID HE HAVE TO DO,HE SAID 3 I TOLD HIM THERE WAS NO WAY HE COULD HAVE GOTTEN IT DONE IN THAT MANY LOADS,IT COULDN'T HAVE BEEN CLEAN, WAS THERE ANY ROOM IN THE WASHER FOR WATER??HE HAD TO RE DO IT,THE CORRECT WAY AND YEP YOU GUESSED RIGHT IT WAS MORE THAN 3 LOADS IT WAS ACTUALLY 6!! :)
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