Is it normal for teens to do their own laundry?

Log in / Sign Up

List of Forums + New Post Recipe Box Usergroups Following My Posts Bookmarks

Private Messages Advanced Search Rules New User Guide FAQ Advertise Contact Us

Forum -> Household Management -> Cleaning & Laundry

Previous 1 2 3 4 Next

View latest: 24h 48h 72h

amother

Dill

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 5:15 pm

All of my teens did their own laundry about 95% of the time. My kids said it began to feel weird for their mom to wash their underwear, especially my daughters.

amother

Tangerine

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 5:25 pm

I left home for high school and was obviously responsible for my own laundry when I was away. Back home during vacations, I became super particular about not wanting my clothing washed together with anyone else's, so I just kept doing it myself.
When I got married, it took me a while to not feel gross having my husband's dirty clothing in the same hamper as mine LOL

Now when we travel back to my parents, my mother will spoil me sometimes by doing some of my loads and I totally appreciate it!

amother

RosePink

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 5:31 pm

My teens do their own laundry but they literally do nothing else.

amother

Mintgreen

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 5:34 pm

My kids, who are away at college, laugh about kids who don't know how to do their own laundry--and believe me, there are many. (I can also tell from the parent chats that so many kids go away without knowing how to take care of themselves.)

Laundry is easy! So is vacuuming, sweeping, and even scrubbing toilets. All of my kids pitch in when they're home. They've been doing it for years.

amother

Obsidian

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 7:59 pm

I suggest renaming your thread "is it COMMON..." There's nothing abnormal about teens doing their own laundry, any more than it's abnormal for them to make their own beds. To ask if it's normal implies that you think it's not, which is insulting.

amother

DarkViolet

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 8:05 pm

Not really laundry but if they want their pleated skirts pressed or shirts starched, it's on them. I'll make sure it's clean and hung and wearable.

zaq

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 8:08 pm

One of your jobs as a parent is to teach your children basic domestic skills so that when they go out into the world, be it summer camp, sleepaway schools, a singles apartment or marriage, they are already armed with those skills and don't have to call you in a panic because they have no clue how to wash their underwear. If you fail to teach them basic skills like laundry, sweeping and mopping floors, cleaning a toilet and preparing simple foods like fried eggs, then the squalor in which they live when they leave home--or the disgruntlement of their roommates and spouses--is your fault.

amother

Trillium

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 8:11 pm

amother OP wrote:

I've read this a few times on this site.
Is there a reason for this? Why wouldn't the mother do everyone laundry?

Yup, the reason is so that I can give them something to complain to their therapist about.

Real answer - I'm overwhelmed, didn't have cleaning help and my kids did it cuz they wanted to. Nobody was forced and nobody's traumatized.

I don't live in a reality where this is "the mother's job". I live in a reality where everyone helps out based on capabilities regardless of gender (all boys so far).

amother

Obsidian

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 8:16 pm

I started doing my own laundry, mostly by hand, the day my mother shredded my sheer batiste bedroom window curtains by washing them in our machine, which had only one cycle and "gentle" wasn't it. Mom was no laundry ignoramus but neither was she about to wash curtains by hand. FTR I was in middle school.

finprof

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 8:19 pm

My kids load the wash as early as age 4 and put folded close away (dump into the machine and drawers but it's a start). By age 7 they can move wash from the washer to the dryer, sort and fold-ish. Honestly, I usually sort and fold but they know how and will do it if asked and will do so voluntarily if I fall behind and the want/need something. We both work full time outside the home and have no hired help or family around to help. I honestly don't see the issue- laundry is a chore like any other...

amother

Rainbow

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 8:23 pm

My kids are very little so it's not a question but I liked my mother's system. Most of the time she did our laundry. However, she taught us how to do laundry so that if there was anything we specifically wanted washed for the next day, we were able to throw in a load ourselves. I don't remember from how young that was but for sure in HS I remember using the machine once in a while.

amother

Lavender

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 9:46 pm

I did my own laundry as a teen by choice.

amother

Floralwhite

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 9:52 pm

My 13-year-old son does his own laundry. He wasn't happy with my laundry schedule and so I said he was free to do his own laundry and has been doing it for a year. I help out every now and then when he has a lot going on. But, otherwise, it has been helpful for him to take on some responsibility and it builds independence!

Lovable

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 9:57 pm

I find it interesting that when it comes to laundry, so many imas have their teens do their own
For all those same reasons, why Don't you have them cook their own dinner?

Laundry is an easy thing to learn, when the time comes

amother

NeonPink

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 10:19 pm

In general, in our house, Sunday is laundry day. There is a hamper in each bedroom, and we take turns putting up loads by room. My kids aged 9-15 help with this. When their load is done, they move it to dryer and hang whatever needs to be hang dried. Then whoever sleeps in that room will fold and put away. Does that mean my 9 yr oldest shirts are never perfectly folded? So be it. I include 3 yr olds stuff with my own load. Dd5 likes to help fold towels and 3 yr old clothes (smaller so easier for her to handle.) Everyone knows that everyone is doing laundry on Sunday so no one is resentful, no one has to fold someone else's stuff (or touch someone else's underwear which freaks them out.) It's not a big deal for them. They help with other chores too as able.
I would love to teach my teens to iron....

amother

NeonPink

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 10:20 pm

Lovable wrote:

Because everyone needs to eat dinner. Its silly for everyone to make their own
Also, they come home from school hungry, with hmwk, and dinner is soon after that.
Having said that, my teens will make dinner for the family on Sundays

amother

Copper

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 10:46 pm

happy7 wrote:

Because laundry is a lot of work, and my teens are completely capable of doing their own.
I help them on occasion, but they regularly do their own.
Any teen who lives away from home does his/her own. Why shouldn’t they be able to do their own at home?

They’re also capable of shopping for the family and cooking the meals and cleaning up. Plus cleaning the bathrooms every night and bathing the other kids.
Where’s the line?
Not saying they shouldn’t do the laundry but it’s an interesting argument.

octopus

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 10:49 pm

I mostly do the laundry but if my teens need something ASAP for the next day(and tell me at 10 pm at night) they know how to put it in themselves. Sometimes I'm exhausted and just fall asleep so this way they are independent and don't have to rely on me . That's how we work it in this house.

amother

Currant

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 11:11 pm

Op, I'm genuinely curious and not at all judging, do you work outside of the home? I have never encountered a mother who worked and didn't consider laundry hard (with 2+ kids). When I'm off in the summer laundry isn't as daunting , even with all the extra swim stuff.
My 15 year old started doing laundry when she was 13. She would complain that she didn't have the clothes she wanted and would complain that it's in the laundry, when really it was under her bed. This way is so much easier because she can keep track. She still isn't great about keeping her things neat or put away properly, but I'll help her.

amother

Pear

Tue, Feb 06 2024, 9:44 am

zaq wrote:

This.

My teenagers (one male and one female) both started doing some of the laundry (usually their own) in middle school. My son was away at yeshiva and lived in a dorm and would come home with large amounts of laundry, which he understood he would need to tackle-- he couldn't just dump it on his mom. In both cases, it was important for them to learn how to do this as a basic life skill. True-- they don't do laundry to my standard (I am a bit old school and do a lot of sorting and special washes). They generally just throw everything in together. When I have done their laundry, I generally fold it and they have to put it away. When laundry backs up (I am a working single mom, so this is reality), they have to help more with folding so we can get caught up.

I also taught both my daughter and son how to cook. They can bake chicken, hamburgers, etc., and side dishes, etc. They don't do it regularly, but they are perfectly capable and can do it if I ask them to. My daughter also does the bathroom deep cleans (as opposed to daily touch ups) as one of her regular household chores. They both know how to take trash out. They both are supposed to keep their rooms clean, but that is less of a success--they are both messy teenagers.

Page 3 of 4

Previous 1 2 3 4 Next