Laundry Service at college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems that a lot of negative posts about outsourcing laundry has come from people who seem to be real jerks. They have not only failed to answer a simple question that OP has asked but actually been very mean and sarcastic when posting their unsolicited opinions.

It makes me think that they are carrying deep seated anger and resentment because they did not have a laundry service in college.

OP, please provide a laundry service to your kid, otherwise, he may turn into a bitter and jealous person too.

Hi OP.

[Anonymous]

OP, if you have to go onto an online forum to ask these insipid questions both you and your DC are headed back to shirtsleeves. You're strictly Middle Management.

It was never about getting the laundry done it was about appearances. Think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most residential colleges have cooks, cleaners, drivers, groundskeepers, and tutors -- as well as doctors, therapists, and career counselors -- whose services are available to all students. Wouldn't surprise me if some athletic departments had trainers and physical therapists as well as coaches on staff. Maybe you should encourage your DC to check out what's available on campus.

What does the groundskeeper do? Water your house plants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's giving him a thoughtful gift. Funny how it's not helicoptering to have your kid on a meal plan but somehow it's a moral imperative that each kid do his or her own laundry. Both are arrangements that give college students a chance to escape a big part of the overhead of daily living.

Dorm rooms don't have kitchens and the school usually requires a meal plan. Dorms rooms DO have washers, and the school DOESN'T require Mommy to pay someone to do your clothes.

Most dorms DO have kitchens in them. At my university, freshman dorms had a common kitchen on each floor, and upperclassmen dorms were set up in suites, each of which had a kitchen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most residential colleges have cooks, cleaners, drivers, groundskeepers, and tutors -- as well as doctors, therapists, and career counselors -- whose services are available to all students. Wouldn't surprise me if some athletic departments had trainers and physical therapists as well as coaches on staff. Maybe you should encourage your DC to check out what's available on campus.

What does the groundskeeper do? Water your house plants.

Lawn-mowing, leaf-raking, and snow-shoveling would be the teen-aged kid domestic chore equivalents in that case. But I've always been amazed how many people the universities I've attended/taught at have on staff to deal with landscaping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you have to go onto an online forum to ask these insipid questions both you and your DC are headed back to shirtsleeves. You're strictly Middle Management.

It was never about getting the laundry done it was about appearances. Think.

Wow. What bad 19th century novel (or 20th century Masterpiece Theater series) did you escape from?

[Anonymous]

Helicopter mom alert!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's giving him a thoughtful gift. Funny how it's not helicoptering to have your kid on a meal plan but somehow it's a moral imperative that each kid do his or her own laundry. Both are arrangements that give college students a chance to escape a big part of the overhead of daily living.

Dorm rooms don't have kitchens and the school usually requires a meal plan. Dorms rooms DO have washers, and the school DOESN'T require Mommy to pay someone to do your clothes.

Most dorms DO have kitchens in them. At my university, freshman dorms had a common kitchen on each floor, and upperclassmen dorms were set up in suites, each of which had a kitchen.

That was my experience too (except Freshman year). There were also co-op housing options on campus where the kids were (collectively) responsible for doing all their own cooking, cleaning, and shopping. I've noticed that arrangement on other campuses as well during recent college visits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you have to go onto an online forum to ask these insipid questions both you and your DC are headed back to shirtsleeves. You're strictly Middle Management.

It was never about getting the laundry done it was about appearances. Think.

Were you drunk when you posted this?

I am not interested in your judgement of my decision; I only wanted input on logistics.

My "Middle Management" job is based in Europe, so yes, I am very anxious about sending my child to the US alone for college, but you know what? We aren't paying any tuition and I am so proud of him for achieving this that I do not think spoiling him on this one thing will ruin him. Also, my British DH attended Oxford, where someone actually cleans each student's room AND bathroom for the student each day, and so he has a different perspective on the laundry thing at school: he expects DS to continue to be an academic achiever and an honorable person who treats others well, and does not care overly much about laundry. DH was not ruined by his university's cleaning policy, and he is tidy enough now, so I am sure it will be fine for DS to be indulged in this one treat. Forgive me for asking an "insipid question" about my child's college living logistics on this parenting forum; I am "headed back to shirtsleeves" now. Whatever that means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most residential colleges have cooks, cleaners, drivers, groundskeepers, and tutors -- as well as doctors, therapists, and career counselors -- whose services are available to all students. Wouldn't surprise me if some athletic departments had trainers and physical therapists as well as coaches on staff. Maybe you should encourage your DC to check out what's available on campus.

What does the groundskeeper do? Water your house plants.

Lawn-mowing, leaf-raking, and snow-shoveling would be the teen-aged kid domestic chore equivalents in that case. But I've always been amazed how many people the universities I've attended/taught at have on staff to deal with landscaping.

I know what a groundskeeper is. The joke was the services were available to the the students. What direct services do they actually do FOR the students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is your child disabled?

No, he's a slob. (Yes, I tried to teach him to be neat, but his bedroom is a disaster and he wore his swim trunks around the house last weekend because he was too lazy to do his laundry). But he is a good student on a full scholarship, which I am thrilled about, so I'm thinking about doing it for the first year. Plus, I pity his roommate.

As his future employer, may I suggest college is a really great, natural opportunity for you to stop the helicoptering?

+1

Just stop doing his laundry. Quit. Today. Let him live with the consequences.

I already did it. My kids 10, 11 AND 13. Now when my son complains that he does not have clean socks, I say : " Not my problem..."

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I understood why you said that but my point (in part) was that, in lots of cases other than laundry, colleges have staff that do the kinds of labor many families expect kids to do at home. Household chores typically (or at least often) represent contributions to the collective good rather than every individual doing everything for him/herself. When the size and nature of the collectivity involved changes, contributing $ substitutes for contributing labor to support the overhead associated with daily living. If we don't find that objectionable in general, why make such a big deal about laundry? Face it, kids aren't pulling their weight wrt domestic labor in college -- there are lots of people serving/cleaning up after them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's giving him a thoughtful gift. Funny how it's not helicoptering to have your kid on a meal plan but somehow it's a moral imperative that each kid do his or her own laundry. Both are arrangements that give college students a chance to escape a big part of the overhead of daily living.

Dorm rooms don't have kitchens and the school usually requires a meal plan. Dorms rooms DO have washers, and the school DOESN'T require Mommy to pay someone to do your clothes.

Most dorms DO have kitchens in them. At my university, freshman dorms had a common kitchen on each floor, and upperclassmen dorms were set up in suites, each of which had a kitchen.

That was my experience too (except Freshman year). There were also co-op housing options on campus where the kids were (collectively) responsible for doing all their own cooking, cleaning, and shopping. I've noticed that arrangement on other campuses as well during recent college visits.

Freshman dorm kitchens are a little limited since they typically have no actual cooking supplies. One of my DCs lived in on campus apartments for 2 years that similarly didn't have any cooking supplies but in that case we were able to outfit the kitchen with the basics. But the college required all students to be on the meal plan anyway so the students living in the apartments weren't really responsible for providing their own meals. They were responsible for cleaning though. So different colleges may have different arrangements and standards.

OP if you or your DC wants a laundry service, then he should get one. Not sure how posting on DCUM helps though. If you name the college perhaps people with kids at that college can help with names of service but it's probably better for the student to just sign up when he arrives. At one of my DCs college there are multiple laundry services and you can sign up whenever, it doesn't require advance planning. At the other kids college I am not sure there even was a laundry option other than linens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Her question was if you knew of a service. If you don't, then move on. We all raise our kids differently. College is a huge transition and maybe she wants to take one thing off his plate for a while. I'm guessing most of the annoyed people have younger kids.

No kid in college who has learned to do laundry for himself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems that a lot of negative posts about outsourcing laundry has come from people who seem to be real jerks. They have not only failed to answer a simple question that OP has asked but actually been very mean and sarcastic when posting their unsolicited opinions.

It makes me think that they are carrying deep seated anger and resentment because they did not have a laundry service in college.

OP, please provide a laundry service to your kid, otherwise, he may turn into a bitter and jealous person too.

You can't be serious? No one has anger and resentment about laundry. It is just frustrating to watch parents coddle their kids and then wonder why they can't do basic things.