I was 18 and driving with my dad when he told me to turn south one day. I looked at him baffled, he was appalled I didn't know which way that was. I'd just never related that information to real life I guess. Granted everyone uses GPS now--but fact is, when I head to an area where I live I am not familiar with my GPS is always telling me to go the wrong way on a nearby one way thoroughfare. It also misdirected me to a church being torn down a mile away from the church where my aunt's funeral was being held.

So--be able to tell which way is north/south/east/west from where you happen to be.

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one with a top load washer? My kid would happily do laundry, but I can only get clothes out by standing on my tiptoes. My 9YO will need to grow another foot before that's a chore she can take on.

Ours uses this neat invention called a step stool.

Anonymous wrote:My 6th grader can't reach the buttons on the washing machine so laundry is going to have to wait a bit yet.

Boys should definitely know how to clean the bathroom. It's so much nicer telling them to scrub their own pee off the toilet and floor than doing it yourself.

Step stool? I absolutely agree about cleaning up in bathroom.

Am I the only one with a top load washer? My kid would happily do laundry, but I can only get clothes out by standing on my tiptoes. My 9YO will need to grow another foot before that's a chore she can take on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My elementary schooler is supposed to do their own laundry? I didn’t until college and I turned out just fine.

Same. This thread is pretty fakey/tryhard.

If you didn't do it, who did it for you? Your parents, your family maid? Knowing how to achieve clean clothes in your closet is a life skill that is no one else's responsibility except your own. Unless having "help" is a permanent situation for your child, in which case most of this thread won't apply.

En route to college (long trip by car, took a few days) my mom took me to a laundromat to show me how to do laundry.

In one of the early Malcolm in the Middle episodes there was a bit about how mom always does the laundry because of the risk of electric shock. I think that was our house.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My elementary schooler is supposed to do their own laundry? I didn’t until college and I turned out just fine.

Same. This thread is pretty fakey/tryhard.

Laundry is so easy, though??

It's one of the easiest chores nowadays, if you have modern machines.

-Take your stuff (or everyone's) to the washing machine (probably don't even need to sort by color). May need to know what can't be put in machine.
-Put in detergent, press a button or two (learn which).
-Swing by in an hour and throw in dryer, press a button or two (learn which).
-Take out, bring to room, fold and put away

??

I'm a little iffy about some of the suggestions here but my five year old can do laundry and run the dishwasher. This seems like a weird one to be phased by.

It's funny how our backgrounds can color our opinions on things. original pps think have an 8 your old do laundry is fake or over the top. You see it as fine, but think other things are iffy. Based on my upbringing I find alot of these suggestions babyish.

I agree, but times have changed. I can’t tell you how many 8/9/10yo cannot tie shoes. Why? Way more athletic slip-on shoes than in the 70/80s. I coach youth sports. When the kids on my team ask me to tie their shoes, I tell them I will do it once, but after that they need to learn to do it without mom/dad. Parents have been very appreciative bc sometimes it takes a trusted outsider to motivate a kid. I haven’t had single kid not do it. As long as a kid showed me he/she tried first, I had no problem helping. They are so proud when they can finally do it. In my day, if you didn’t have shoe thing down pat by K, kids and adults would at least side-eye you.

I’m sure you’re familiar with this list from the 1979s.

http://www.chicagonow.com/little-kids-big-city/2011/08/is-your-child-ready-for-first-grade-1979-edition/

Parents used to teach kids how to tie shoes all the time. What has changed with times, is parents want to outsource everything and are so afraid of pushing or challenging their kid to do anything except advanced math, instruments, and foreign language. Shoe tying and crossing the street won't get you into Ivy, so it doesn't matter, but then these college students come home and parents are shocked at how unhelpful they are around the house and what to know if they should take the phone away.

Spot on. It also scares me a bit when kids don’t get independence to navigate their neighborhood until around 16yo. True story for some of my NOVA neighbors. The first time they get to do this is behind a wheel of a car. Moms (not all!) drive their kids .25-.5 mile up the road to ES, 1.25 mile in MS, and .75 mile to HS until kid turns 16/17. Kids were allowed to walk to friends houses either. My 1970s/80s brain has a hard time comprehending this way of parenting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My elementary schooler is supposed to do their own laundry? I didn’t until college and I turned out just fine.

Same. This thread is pretty fakey/tryhard.

Laundry is so easy, though??

It's one of the easiest chores nowadays, if you have modern machines.

-Take your stuff (or everyone's) to the washing machine (probably don't even need to sort by color). May need to know what can't be put in machine.
-Put in detergent, press a button or two (learn which).
-Swing by in an hour and throw in dryer, press a button or two (learn which).
-Take out, bring to room, fold and put away

??

I'm a little iffy about some of the suggestions here but my five year old can do laundry and run the dishwasher. This seems like a weird one to be phased by.

It's funny how our backgrounds can color our opinions on things. original pps think have an 8 your old do laundry is fake or over the top. You see it as fine, but think other things are iffy. Based on my upbringing I find alot of these suggestions babyish.

I agree, but times have changed. I can’t tell you how many 8/9/10yo cannot tie shoes. Why? Way more athletic slip-on shoes than in the 70/80s. I coach youth sports. When the kids on my team ask me to tie their shoes, I tell them I will do it once, but after that they need to learn to do it without mom/dad. Parents have been very appreciative bc sometimes it takes a trusted outsider to motivate a kid. I haven’t had single kid not do it. As long as a kid showed me he/she tried first, I had no problem helping. They are so proud when they can finally do it. In my day, if you didn’t have shoe thing down pat by K, kids and adults would at least side-eye you.

I’m sure you’re familiar with this list from the 1979s.

http://www.chicagonow.com/little-kids-big-city/2011/08/is-your-child-ready-for-first-grade-1979-edition/

Not sure what point you are trying to make. Anyway proplr were just giving their opinions. You came in here looking to be offended ( I turned out just fine) and accusing people of being fake.

I’m the poster who wrote about tying shoe laces not the other ones. You are responding to different posters in this same link.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My elementary schooler is supposed to do their own laundry? I didn’t until college and I turned out just fine.

Same. This thread is pretty fakey/tryhard.

Laundry is so easy, though??

It's one of the easiest chores nowadays, if you have modern machines.

-Take your stuff (or everyone's) to the washing machine (probably don't even need to sort by color). May need to know what can't be put in machine.
-Put in detergent, press a button or two (learn which).
-Swing by in an hour and throw in dryer, press a button or two (learn which).
-Take out, bring to room, fold and put away

??

I'm a little iffy about some of the suggestions here but my five year old can do laundry and run the dishwasher. This seems like a weird one to be phased by.

It's funny how our backgrounds can color our opinions on things. original pps think have an 8 your old do laundry is fake or over the top. You see it as fine, but think other things are iffy. Based on my upbringing I find alot of these suggestions babyish.

I agree, but times have changed. I can’t tell you how many 8/9/10yo cannot tie shoes. Why? Way more athletic slip-on shoes than in the 70/80s. I coach youth sports. When the kids on my team ask me to tie their shoes, I tell them I will do it once, but after that they need to learn to do it without mom/dad. Parents have been very appreciative bc sometimes it takes a trusted outsider to motivate a kid. I haven’t had single kid not do it. As long as a kid showed me he/she tried first, I had no problem helping. They are so proud when they can finally do it. In my day, if you didn’t have shoe thing down pat by K, kids and adults would at least side-eye you.

I’m sure you’re familiar with this list from the 1979s.

http://www.chicagonow.com/little-kids-big-city/2011/08/is-your-child-ready-for-first-grade-1979-edition/

Parents used to teach kids how to tie shoes all the time. What has changed with times, is parents want to outsource everything and are so afraid of pushing or challenging their kid to do anything except advanced math, instruments, and foreign language. Shoe tying and crossing the street won't get you into Ivy, so it doesn't matter, but then these college students come home and parents are shocked at how unhelpful they are around the house and what to know if they should take the phone away.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My elementary schooler is supposed to do their own laundry? I didn’t until college and I turned out just fine.

Same. This thread is pretty fakey/tryhard.

Laundry is so easy, though??

It's one of the easiest chores nowadays, if you have modern machines.

-Take your stuff (or everyone's) to the washing machine (probably don't even need to sort by color). May need to know what can't be put in machine.
-Put in detergent, press a button or two (learn which).
-Swing by in an hour and throw in dryer, press a button or two (learn which).
-Take out, bring to room, fold and put away

??

I'm a little iffy about some of the suggestions here but my five year old can do laundry and run the dishwasher. This seems like a weird one to be phased by.

It's funny how our backgrounds can color our opinions on things. original pps think have an 8 your old do laundry is fake or over the top. You see it as fine, but think other things are iffy. Based on my upbringing I find alot of these suggestions babyish.

I agree, but times have changed. I can’t tell you how many 8/9/10yo cannot tie shoes. Why? Way more athletic slip-on shoes than in the 70/80s. I coach youth sports. When the kids on my team ask me to tie their shoes, I tell them I will do it once, but after that they need to learn to do it without mom/dad. Parents have been very appreciative bc sometimes it takes a trusted outsider to motivate a kid. I haven’t had single kid not do it. As long as a kid showed me he/she tried first, I had no problem helping. They are so proud when they can finally do it. In my day, if you didn’t have shoe thing down pat by K, kids and adults would at least side-eye you.

I’m sure you’re familiar with this list from the 1979s.

http://www.chicagonow.com/little-kids-big-city/2011/08/is-your-child-ready-for-first-grade-1979-edition/

Not sure what point you are trying to make. Anyway proplr were just giving their opinions. You came in here looking to be offended ( I turned out just fine) and accusing people of being fake.

My 6th grader can't reach the buttons on the washing machine so laundry is going to have to wait a bit yet.

Boys should definitely know how to clean the bathroom. It's so much nicer telling them to scrub their own pee off the toilet and floor than doing it yourself.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My elementary schooler is supposed to do their own laundry? I didn’t until college and I turned out just fine.

Same. This thread is pretty fakey/tryhard.

Laundry is so easy, though??

It's one of the easiest chores nowadays, if you have modern machines.

-Take your stuff (or everyone's) to the washing machine (probably don't even need to sort by color). May need to know what can't be put in machine.
-Put in detergent, press a button or two (learn which).
-Swing by in an hour and throw in dryer, press a button or two (learn which).
-Take out, bring to room, fold and put away

??

I'm a little iffy about some of the suggestions here but my five year old can do laundry and run the dishwasher. This seems like a weird one to be phased by.

It's funny how our backgrounds can color our opinions on things. original pps think have an 8 your old do laundry is fake or over the top. You see it as fine, but think other things are iffy. Based on my upbringing I find alot of these suggestions babyish.

I agree, but times have changed. I can’t tell you how many 8/9/10yo cannot tie shoes. Why? Way more athletic slip-on shoes than in the 70/80s. I coach youth sports. When the kids on my team ask me to tie their shoes, I tell them I will do it once, but after that they need to learn to do it without mom/dad. Parents have been very appreciative bc sometimes it takes a trusted outsider to motivate a kid. I haven’t had single kid not do it. As long as a kid showed me he/she tried first, I had no problem helping. They are so proud when they can finally do it. In my day, if you didn’t have shoe thing down pat by K, kids and adults would at least side-eye you.

I’m sure you’re familiar with this list from the 1979s.

http://www.chicagonow.com/little-kids-big-city/2011/08/is-your-child-ready-for-first-grade-1979-edition/

Anonymous wrote:Navigate neighborhood without parental instruction (how to find way home)

Yes. I discovered a parenting fail when I realized my middle schooler didn't know how to interpret street signs at intersections.

learn to read/write cursive

Also, for me, it's about teaching responsibility and contributions. I learned in the 3rd grade among many other chores and was pretty independent and confident to tackle many of life's problems once I entered college. Being at ease with the smaller chores allowed me room to develop more complex adulting skills without feeling overwhelmed and allowed me to feel confident in doing so.

To the PP who didn't learn how to do laundry and "turned out fine"... Of course you did?

I mean, partly because it's such an easy chore to learn that an 8-year-old could do it.

Very few chores are absolutely necessary to learn how to survive if you always have someone doing them for you. I don't think I "learned" how to take the trash to the curb on trash-day-eve until I was an adult, because my dad just always did it at home. So I'm not sure I needed to learn to do it by the time I was 8-9, and I wasn't disadvantaged per se by not knowing how to do it until adulthood. But it certainly wouldn't be try-hard or fakey if my parents showed me how?

Laundry is not like... learning to change the oil in a car at 8 or 9 or something. Or, more to the point, thinking that's an essential life skill to have by 8 or 9. Laundry is just one of those everyday, rather unskilled things (95% of the time) that we all can learn how to do at a young age, whether we "have to" or not.