Making packed lunch

I just think it’s easier to do laundry together. Doing it can be divided between people though. I’ve not had a tumble drier for about 25 years though, so no learning about that.

I'm a sahm and make my teens lunches. However I think it's absolutely fine to have them make them themselves.

I disagree, it works well here. DD only has to learn about her own clothes, not randomly which of DH's shirts and DS"s t shirts can tumble. It's taken a huge load off me since DD started doing her own and she is learning what she needs for when she moves out.

She puts whites in the main basket for me to do - she has hardly any.

I tend to do mine and DS’s for nursery (he’s almost 3). Occasionally I’ll do DH’s too, but we usually have different stuff and we find it’s just easier if we sort our own mostly. Whatever suits, every family is different!

Not senseless when they either have enough for a load or the sense to ask if anyone has something they want to add to their load. The only part I found frustrating was that DS in particular would put a wash on at 10pm.

I make sandwiches for me. So I make them for the kids as well. If DS(15) wants something in a food flask, I need to know before I start on sandwiches, and he makes his own.

I can't imagine getting out the bread, butter, fillings and then only making one lunch. It takes about 30s extra per child to do it in one go. Would take much longer for everyone to do their own.

I genuinely don’t understand individual members of a family doing their own laundry. It just seems inefficient. A teen should be able to put a wash on, sure, but just their own stuff? Senseless.

My 10yo was making hers last year but we've agreed she'll do extra homework in the morning if I make it. My 7yo will grab bits from the cupboards while I make her wrap. And they usually make their own weekend lunch which is the same foods usually so do know how and what makes a balanced plate etc.

My DC have made their own since about Y7. I could do it but it's good for them to be independent. They get a food allowance which they can choose to spend in the canteen OR make a packed lunch then they get to keep that money (£10 per week). They choose to make their own lunch and keep the money to spend on going out etc. They don't get any other allowance.

Do what you like but don't judge others. We all have our own circumstances.

I made my daughter's lunch until the end of secondary. Reason being that she has a younger brother with additional needs who will need his done. I could make her do it, but I was making one anyway and it was a little way I could make her feel nurtured rather than yet another instance of "you're not my SN one so you get less looking after". (Also it upped her veg intake.)

Both regularly do their own lunch and her sandwich making skills are fine. We are a bit behind on her learning to cook simple dinners, largely because it's one of those things that drops down the priority list when life is giving you lemons. She's handling enough at the moment - we'll get the basics into her before uni and that is good enough.

Probably stems from me and my sister making our own as my mum worked FT too 🤷‍♀️

I still make lunch for mine too.
They are perfectly capable of doing it themselves but lunch isn't a priority for them so they'll happily just not eat sometimes. Or they'll just buy a drink and a cookie which I don't think is substantial enough, especially on Games/Pe days.

So I make it for them for my own piece of mind that they've eaten. They will sometimes make what they want too.

If I dont make it because I've been busy with other things, they're not bothered about it at all.

You're not a mean mum to expect your child to make it if you don't want to.

Mine have made their own since about 7. It started when they didn't want school dinners on my working days so I said it was fine to have packed lunches those days but they'd have to make it.

They then started doing their own every day and have done since (now 17 and 16).

There is plenty of food in the house and they are pretty healthy in their choices so all good.

I work more than full time and start my day at 6am walking the dog and leave for work at 7.30 so they def have more time than me!

Same. I worked out buying lunches would be £7k a year so I spent it on holidays instead

17 year old should definitely make their own lunch, as should your DH. But personally I'd be making it for the first few years of secondary.

We made our own from age 12 (S1 High School) onwards.
There was sometimes horse trading, in that (there were three of us, plus my parents, who all took a pack-up), we might say 'You do them all today, and I'll do them all on Wednesday', or the like. The only time Mum - or Dad - did them for us all was if we had a particularly late night (cinema/family visit/exams for example), or sometimes my Mum chucked us all £3 - yes, I'm that old - and said to buy something.
There was always a lot of packed lunch items in the house, though - so, yoghurts, dried fruit packs, crisps/nuts. Meant all we had to do was make a sandwich, package up leftovers, etc., and grab something from the fruit bowl. It was a good way to get us to take responsibility, and also for our parents to know we were eating properly.

I'd have thought a 16/17 year old was more than capable of doing this for themselves.

I make my 13 and 9 year olds and also make DH's when he goes into the office. My DM made mine, my DB's and DF's until I left home so I am just following on from her.

If you're making your own fair enough but at high school they absolutely should be capable of doing their own!! Sounds like laziness!

I usually only make my own - maybe sometimes for dh as well if I have batch cooked some lunch stuff. Dh does proper packed lunch for one at primary. He does a basic sandwich for the eldest at the same time but they do the rest. Middle one likes to make their own.

A lot of parents don’t give their children credit for what they’re actually capable of. Mine also cooked one meal a week from 13 did their own laundry from 16.

My dd is 11 and she makes her own lunches. It just sort of happened, she is often up early and stated making them before I got to it, she likes to feel independent.

It's not unreasonable at all.

Mine would have just packed shit or not eaten though so we made them.