Real Talk. Do you fold your kids’ clothes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes I fold it and put it away. I hang school uniform polos and more dressy stuff.
DD is 11 so old enough to do it herself… not sure why I still do it but I do.

Same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I launder the clothes and separate by kid, then they fold and put away.

Same.

[Anonymous]

We hang all dresses and shirts.

Their dressers basically all have 6 drawers and I don't fold any of this:
-underwear
-socks
-PJs
-shorts (I do fold these in half when I put them in the drawer)
-pants (I fold these in half in the drawer)
-Swim

[Anonymous]

I do and I would like to stop. It's mainly to keep the drawers organized so they can see all their clothes and maybe actually wear them.

But mine are 7 and 9 and I think ready to start taking on the management of this task a bit more. It's clearly my own OCD that is holding us back. And the fact that I WFH and often just fold and put stuff away while listening to a call.

[Anonymous]

Yes. Dh does it and kids help. Its all marie condo folds into dresser including underpants and dresses are hung up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. If I'm lucky I've got like 50 more years on this planet, I'm not spending them folding clothes for a seven year old.

OP here. I don't mind folding. I wash and fold all the laundry except DH helps with socks and sheets. But putting them all away I hate. So it sits and sits... and then inevitably I have to refold or rewash.

[Anonymous]

Shirts and dresses get hung up. Pants, shorts, socks and underwear go in bins. Pans and shorts get folded and then stored vertically so you can see them all.

Also, DD wears a uniform to school and there are five uniform outfits in her closet and the full outfit gets hung on the hanger all together -- top and bottom, including leggings if it's cold enough she needs to wear leggings under her dress or skirt. These just get rotated around in the same order and I make adjustments for weather as needed through the year.

The rest of her clothes she helps me hang/fold and it really doesn't take that long. I do find hanging everything we can simplifies things. Clothes stay tidier on hangers and it's easier to see what she has, and it takes less finesse on her end to hang things up or get them out. It also allows us to pull choices out of the closet to decide what she is going to wear for something, and then put the rejected options away in two seconds without having to fold anything.

She has a small standing closet that is her height (she is 6) where all of this goes. I think this helps give her more ownership of her clothing which in turn makes it easier to encourage her to do more of the caretaking herself -- I'll throw a stack of clean clothes on her bed and tell her to hang it all up and she will, and even organize them the way makes sense to her. And she loves the ease of having the uniform outfits ready to go and it makes her more independent in the morning because we don't have to discuss what she's going to wear or discuss what is weather appropriate or whatever. She just grabs the next outfit from the closet and gets dressed.

[Anonymous]

+1 to PP above. Everything on hangers makes choices easier. We hang all the tops, have a lower hanging rods for uniforms, and half of close is elfa shelving that has open shelves with dividers for socks, stacks of underwear, undershirts. Pants and shorts get folded in half, pajamas and swim go into shallow bins so i can Marie kondo fold stuff in there and see it all in one layer.

[Anonymous]

I fold it. Put it away. Then she tears through it like a weasel.

[Anonymous]

My wife has never trusted me with her laundry and has done her on her own basically since we met.

My 15 year old took over her own laundry years ago - maybe when she was 9 or 10 - she's just happier doing things herself. I remain thankful for it.

I still launder my 12 year old's clothes along with my own and sort them into hers and mine piles. When she was 10, I stopped folding her stuff and so she has to fold and put away. But she's overdue to start laundering them herself. It's a skill she needs to learn before she heads to college and I need to just cut the cord and hand it over.

[Anonymous]

We hang up as much as possible. The kids hang up clothes quickly but piles to be folded would sit around and become wrinkled. Then I'd notice they would toss them back in to be washed again without having worn them.

The only things that folder are undies, PJs, and play clothes. Things that don't matter if they sit in a basket for a few days before being put away.

[Anonymous]

Related question, do you use separate baskets for dirty and clean laundry?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. If I'm lucky I've got like 50 more years on this planet, I'm not spending them folding clothes for a seven year old.

Oh, step child??

[Anonymous]

Yes, my 7 y/o folds her own clothes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. If I'm lucky I've got like 50 more years on this planet, I'm not spending them folding clothes for a seven year old.

Oh, step child??

Huh? I'm 40 with a seven year old. Why would that seem like a step child? I could live to be 90, if I'm lucky. I probably won't but it's possible.