teenagers and laundry

[Anonymous]

DS is 13, turning 14 in August.

He wears every piece of clothing 1 time and throws it in the laundry.
He gets a fresh pair of PJ's nightly because he wont wear "dirty" ones.
He wears jeans one time, shirts one time, then laundry.

I feel he needs to start doing his own laundry. If he does it, then maybe he won't launder every single thing/
However, I worry it will end up as something I have to constantly remind him to do.

Thoughts?

How many wears should a teen get out of a pair of jeans before washing?

[Anonymous]

I don't blame him for wanting a fresh shirt everyday. Jeans, I'd say it depends on the weather. Now that its not, he may get sweaty and I could understand wanting fresh jeans. In the winter, I'd say he could wear the same pair of jeans 3-5x before needing to wash them

[Anonymous]

Have him do his own laundry. If he runs out of clean clothes, then he runs out.

[Anonymous]

Easier to remind him than do his laundry, no? 14 is old enough to do his own laundry, or at least do a load of family laundry every few days.

[Anonymous]

Teach him how to do it, and then let it go. It's his problem. Maybe he's a profuse sweater and he's hiding that from you. Maybe you use Bounce fabric sheets and a girl he likes said she loves how his clothes smell. He's a teenager - you have no idea what kind of secrets he's keeping from you that would totally explain this.

[Anonymous]

Not having clean clothes is a natural consequence of not doing laundry.

So if he wants clean clothes that much, he will remember (after a few times of not having clean clothes) to do laundry, without reminders.

And if he doesn't want clean clothes that much, he can wear not-clean clothes.

[Anonymous]

He does his own laundry. If he doesn't, he doesn't have clean clothes. You don't need to remind him of anything.

I wash most of my shirts every time I wear them, but jeans should last 3-5 wears before washing, unless I spill something on them.

[Anonymous]

My kids wear things 1 time because I think if they didn't they wouldn't keep track of how many times the jeans has gone back to the drawer and they would be worn 10x. I think 13 is old enough to do laundry but I find it so much more efficinet reasource wise to do family loads. I would hate to have us doing 4 seperate sets of smaller loads. My kids are responsible for delivering the dirties to the laundry and returning the cleans to their drawers. They are 10 and 12

[Anonymous]

I bought all two-legged offspring in our family a "graduation" gift when they left elementary school: their own personal laundry basket!

They all managed to do their laundry, as needed, after that.

They needed to be reminded to change their sheets weekly, but they were responsible for their sheets too. Sunday afternoon was popular, so the laundry baskets would start filling up the laundry area since we only had one washer and dryer. (you would think that they would plan ahead, but nope).

They liked having control over their own clothes.

I cringed sometimes when I saw them tossing delicates in with their sports clothes, etc. And some of them never got the hang of separating lights and darks. More than one sweater was shrunk.

But they all left home able to do their laundry, and function in that little way.

Now... if I had only started earlier on some other things like cleaning bathrooms (which they don't do weekly)....

[Anonymous]

OP here, OK thanks for the advice.
Sometimes he is plain lazy and puts things off.

One more question-would you have a set day of the week to have him do it on and then enforce it?
Thats what I was thinking but it sounds like you guys think I should just leave it be for him to handle.

He is quite an immature kid and has ADHD.


HE leaves his bath towel on his bathroom floor every day. He puts his clothes on the floor beside the hamper, instead of IN THE hamper.
He wont replace his toilet paper roll unless reminded. (He has his own washroom). Laziness or normal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids wear things 1 time because I think if they didn't they wouldn't keep track of how many times the jeans has gone back to the drawer and they would be worn 10x. I think 13 is old enough to do laundry but I find it so much more efficinet reasource wise to do family loads. I would hate to have us doing 4 seperate sets of smaller loads. My kids are responsible for delivering the dirties to the laundry and returning the cleans to their drawers. They are 10 and 12

OP here--he does put away his clean clothes and he has been delivering the clothes to the laundry when prompted.
Anyway, I do both kid's clothes separately because they are close in age and both boys and things would get very mixed up otherwise. Because he puts so much in the laundry, we have no issue getting full loads.

[Anonymous]

Anyone over the age of 8 should be helping if not doing their own laundry. Seriously people. If your kid can operate a an ipod, ipad, Wii etc. they can seperate lights and darks, hot and cold on and off. Please teach your kids some independence and stop being the martyr for every damn thing in your home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids wear things 1 time because I think if they didn't they wouldn't keep track of how many times the jeans has gone back to the drawer and they would be worn 10x. I think 13 is old enough to do laundry but I find it so much more efficinet reasource wise to do family loads. I would hate to have us doing 4 seperate sets of smaller loads. My kids are responsible for delivering the dirties to the laundry and returning the cleans to their drawers. They are 10 and 12

OP here--he does put away his clean clothes and he has been delivering the clothes to the laundry when prompted.
Anyway, I do both kid's clothes separately because they are close in age and both boys and things would get very mixed up otherwise. Because he puts so much in the laundry, we have no issue getting full loads.

Both - its normal for him to be lazy Doesnt mean you have to cater to him though. When he has no towels, toilet paper, or clothes, he'll have to figure something out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids wear things 1 time because I think if they didn't they wouldn't keep track of how many times the jeans has gone back to the drawer and they would be worn 10x. I think 13 is old enough to do laundry but I find it so much more efficinet reasource wise to do family loads. I would hate to have us doing 4 seperate sets of smaller loads. My kids are responsible for delivering the dirties to the laundry and returning the cleans to their drawers. They are 10 and 12

OP here--he does put away his clean clothes and he has been delivering the clothes to the laundry when prompted.
Anyway, I do both kid's clothes separately because they are close in age and both boys and things would get very mixed up otherwise. Because he puts so much in the laundry, we have no issue getting full loads.

Both - its normal for him to be lazy Doesnt mean you have to cater to him though. When he has no towels, toilet paper, or clothes, he'll have to figure something out.

You are right.

I dont do these things for him but I remind him, I guess I shouldnt.

[Anonymous]

"HE leaves his bath towel on his bathroom floor every day. He puts his clothes on the floor beside the hamper, instead of IN THE hamper.
He wont replace his toilet paper roll unless reminded. (He has his own washroom). Laziness or normal?"

If my brothers and my kids are any indication, totally normal. Lazy? Maybe, but normal. As to laundry, personally, I don't think it's unreasonable to wash your clothes after one wearing. It's better than the opposite - doing laundry for your teenager and only finding three pair of underwear for a week. But, if it bothers you, it's fine to have him do his own laundry. I think it would be awful to have to do it on a schedule though. You are totally setting yourself up to fight with him and for him to fail. If it were me (and laundry is one of the few things I have not transferred over to my kids yet - they take care of the entire rest of the house, including the outside), I'd let him know when I planned on using the washer and dryer and that it's off limits to him during those times.