Teach Your Child to Do Laundry
Laundry is one of my big DELEGATE jobs. That means I delegate as much of this job as possible to others in the house.
Our children are currently 6, 9 and 10, and they can all do their own laundry. Read that again if you need to: all our children can do their own laundry, start to finish. Yours can, too!
The two most common reasons parents say children can’t do laundry don’t make sense when you really think about it.
Most parents say kids can’t do laundry because…
1. it’s a big, multi-step, hard job
Yes, laundry is a big, mulit-step, hard job. So is building a lego set, playing on a baseball team, learning new soccer skills, learning the organs of the body or the multiplication tables, setting the table, learning how to ride a bike… are you picking up what I’m putting down? Nearly everything a child does is (at first) a big, hard, multi-step job.
Sometimes when a parent says “hard” what she means is laundry is also a physical job, and there are ways around that, which I’ll address below.
2. they are afraid the kids can’t handle it and will get stuck with a mountain of dirty clothes and have nothing clean to wear
Alright, so this one is a natural consequence, which is the best kind!
Just last month our 10-year old -who lives in track pants- had a mountain of dirty clothes and “nothing” clean to wear. Know what he did? He wore his jeans that usually never see the light of day. Then (instead of wearing his clean polo or button down) he sniffed through his dirty clothes and found a tee-shirt to wear again. When he got home, he did his laundry! It took him 2 loads and all night, but he did it.
My point is: so what? So what if they let the laundry pile up? So what if they have to wear something out of the hamper? In the scheme of life…
There’s one more reason I truly believe kids are capable of doing laundry:
Ok, so if you’re currently doing ALL the laundry, how do you start to delegate?
Teach Your Child to Do Laundry
1. Start small: Have your child simply put his clothes away. Personally, I don’t care if they fold or not. It’s their choice – my reasoning for this is that even after they fold, they rummage through to find what they want, undoing all the folding work. I do require them to separate clothes by category, and their drawers are labeled to make this easier.
Once they’ve mastered putting their clothes away, add a step: have them carry their clothes to the washer and then carry the clean clothes to their room (and put them away). Make sure your child can easily carry his loaded hamper.
2. Set up your washing machine space: write out a step-by-step cheat sheet and place it near the washing machine; get a stool* if needed; put your detergent where it’s accessible*; and do anything else to the space you need to make it kid friendly.
3. Teach them how to use the washing machine: the next few times your child carries his clothes to the washer, walk him through the steps on the cheat sheet. After showing him once or twice, be there and just watch as he does it. Only talk if you need to correct or remind. Remember to use lots of positive reinforcement!
4. After your child has mastered the washing machine, set up your dryer space. Make a cheat sheet of steps; make the trash can accessible for lint; put the dryer sheets or balls in child’s arm’s reach, etc.
5. Teach her to use the dryer by showing a few times and then watching a few times, just like you did with the washing machine. Explain the importance of checking the lint trap and show her how to identify any clothes that shouldn’t go in the dryer. Show her how to hang clothes or lay them flat to dry.
6. Once your child has mastered the dryer, you can reinforce the whole process with other people’s clothes in the mix. In other words, there may be someone else’s wet, washed clothes in the washer when they want to use it. Or a full dry load in the dryer. What should they do with these clothes? They won’t know unless you teach them! Each family might handle this differently. I teach our children to turn over the wet laundry into the dryer, UNLESS it’s Dad’s clothes. I have them put dry clothes into the correct hamper unfolded.
Alright, so we’ve broken down the steps. Did you see where we addressed the “physically hard” objections? By giving your small child a small hamper, it will never get too heavy. By strategically setting up your laundry area, there’s no lifting, straining, climbing or reaching. So… laundry shouldn’t be any more physically demanding than the hundreds of other things kids do in a week.
Now the good part! Since your child now knows every step of the laundry process, you- Mom -have lots more flexibility to DELEGATE.
Need them to turn over a load of baby clothes? No problem.
Need them to get a load of towels from the dryer? No problem.
Want them to put everyone’s fresh-from-a-muddy-hike-jackets in the wash and start it? No problem.
Want them all to carry their dirty clothes to the washing machine and you (Mom) do laundry all day while they’re at school? No problem.
Want your kids to do all the laundry while you’re sick in bed for 2 days? No problem! YAY!
Once your child knows every step of the laundry process, you can delegate as much or as little of the job as you want. There are days when I do all the laundry– start to finish- because I have the time… and our children appreciate it! Often during school months I’ll have them carry laundry up and down and put away, but I do all the work in between. During summer they almost always do their own from start to finish.
I love the flexibility.
And I love delegating.
And I love knowing they have an important life skill mastered.
*DISCLAIMER: I would never put a stool next to a washing machine or leave out dangerous cleaners in a house with a baby or toddler for safety reasons. As an added safety I have taught our children to only start the washing machine once the lid is shut, and have explained the dangers of kids getting stuck and drowning in the machines.