Does everyone else's teens do their own laundry?

[Anonymous]

6th grade. They got a phone and increased household chores. Their laundry and the kitchen one day a week.

[Anonymous]

Our house is more loose than this, I guess. There is usually a load of wash in the machine. If the kids bring down their laundry and leave it next to the machine, I will throw it in when I switch laundry. If they have something they really want to wash, they will pull out whatever is in the dryer and fold it, put the wet clothes in the dryer, and put whatever they wanted to wash in the wash.

[Anonymous]

2 kids, 12 and 14. They mostly do their own laundry; I will occasionally throw in a load for them as I'm cleaning. They do their own laundry for many reasons. 1) they are perfectly capable of doing it; and 2) they both participate in lots of activities and we have made it clear that the only way our family can do all the things is if our family helps do all the things at home too. It doesn't really work for me that I work full time, drive them here there and everywhere, and do all the chores too.

I'm basically at the point that I only do what only I can do and everyone else needs to do what they can do.

[Anonymous]

I did mine on my own from an early age. But my mom worked full time and had 3 kids, so she literally did not have time to do all the laundry.

I have 2 kids and I WFH full time. I do laundry almost daily. My DH works in office full time, so he needs one weekend day to do his own laundry. I could designate the other day to be the kids day, but instead I often just do it.

I do have them help me put it away, which is the worst part. I involve them in bringing it down, starting it and moving it around when they are home and I'm doing it. Mine are 11 and 9, and I think by HS they will take it over, but for now, it's easier if I do it.

I definitely don't want them to go to college not understanding how the laundry cycle works (mainly that it needs to happen WEEKLY) and how frequent it can feel.

[Anonymous]

It’s such Annie’s badge of honor.. my kids do their laundry. Smfh

One did in HS because he was being a jerk and I dint do. Ice things for jerks. He wore a lot of dirty clothes.

One didn’t because I worked at home, it was easy to throw it in.

Both kids left for school early am, got home at 8pm due to sports and out of the house Saturday due to sports and most Sunday’s volunteering,

There wasn’t a lot of time.

I don’t do my spouses laundry unless he throws it in my basket.

[Anonymous]

^^^ not Annie a weird

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. My 15 yo will do an emergency load for himself on occasion if he has something specific he wants washed. But no, it just doesn’t make sense to do it that way in our household.

I don’t think it’s as common as dcum makes it out to be.

Agree. It makes more sense for us combine laundry, rather than do many small individual loads.

This is fascinating to me. After a week of school/work, pajamas, working out/sports, each of us definitely at least one full load. No one is doing small individual loads.

Each person is responsible for the full lifecycle of their own laundry. Accountability for what goes well and what doesn’t. I have not helped anyone find a lost or dirty uniform in 3 years or so. Now that the kids wash their own clothes, they keep track of their items and there are no arguments about that. Everyone is happier.

Do you also do the thing where if the person before you doesn’t get their laundry out you leave it in a wet pile on top of the machine?

Ha! No, definitely not. We help each other out if we see something is in the wash/dryer. Honestly, we aren’t that organized. Doing laundry by person pretty much completely eliminated the problem of missing clothes, uniforms, socks, etc.

[Anonymous]

Mine help, but I operate the washer. It’s an expensive piece of equipment. But they are expected to sort and bring it to laundry room, hang dry if necessary, fold and put away.

[Anonymous]

I started doing my own laundry at 12. But no, my teen & tween don’t do their own. They know how to do it. They bring everyone’s laundry down, it gets washed together (usually by the parents), we all help fold, and everyone puts his/her clean clothes away. So they help, but it’s a communal effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never did my laundry growing up and my kids don’t do any either except for the college aged one. It’s something that doesn’t really need much instruction and I don’t think it’s unusual for 18 year olds are doing laundry for the first time in college or their own place.

Same.

[Anonymous]

My kids have folded clothes since about 6 but they don't do their own laundry. Laundry is super easy IMO. You just shove it in, put detergent in and push start... It's the folding and putting away that's the hard part.

I will make sure they know how before going to college though. I had several friends who had never done laundry when I was in college.

[Anonymous]

My teens (14 and 16) have done their own laundry for years but I’ll move the clothes from the washer to the dryer if I happen to walk by. You just throw the laundry in and press a button. It’s an easy task.

[Anonymous]

Mine never did. They learned at college. When they come now they prefer to do it themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When my son went away to college he had to help other kids figure out how to use the laundry machines in the dorms. He was shocked they had no life skills.

That’s quite a leap.

[Anonymous]

Our washing machine is top load and I have to stand on my tiptoes to barely reach the bottom. So I haven’t pushed laundry for our kids who are shorter than me. Is that just us?