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Can your teen/s put on a wash?

71 replies

Babykoala1 · 04/10/2018 18:56

Watching the One Show last night and there was a lad who had just started university and his parents had created videos to show him how to put on a wash, change bed sheets etc.

Apparently this was the first time he'd ever put on a wash Confused sure, the videos may be cute or whatever but surely by the time they've reached university age you'd surely have been taught how to put on a wash?! And why not show him in the years leading up to it? Is this the norm now?! I didn't go to university though so maybe I spent too much time washing clothes and not studying but it just seems a bit bizarre to me to not teach your kids basic life skills!

OP posts:
Jent13c · 04/10/2018 22:17

My 1 year old loves to put things in the washing machine and put the cycle on. I came from a house where only mum did any housework and I’ve always found keeping a house clean difficult because of that. My 30 year old brother would literally leave his clothes in the bathroom and mum would pick them up, sort them, clean them, iron them and return them to drawer for him. That is not what I want for my son.

ineedaholidaynow · 04/10/2018 22:24

For all the families where children are responsible for their own washing, how economical can that be? I am currently a SAHM so usually sort out the laundry, although DS(13) is responsible for putting clothes in his laundry basket and putting clothes away. If you separate out colours etc none of us, individually, would have a full load before running out of clothes!

Also with homework and clubs, DS would not have time to do washing and ironing during the week.

Ceilingrose · 04/10/2018 22:27

Mine always do their own and started at 15. I have to admit that can sometimes mean put on the first wash wash and run! I might carry on or I might call them back later.

IdahoCrow · 04/10/2018 22:30

@BigGreenOlives I remember the miracle of discovering the Service Wash at my local laundrette at university!

BigGreenOlives · 04/10/2018 22:33
Grin

He really doesn’t have enough clothes to do that.

I can imagine dd2 going for that option.

idiotical · 04/10/2018 22:34

Mine did at 12 & 10, I got sick of the arguments over give me your washing so for the sake of family harmony we then did our own, with the proviso if it made the basket it would be washed in the next appropriate load.
Worked a treat no more arguments about washing, did mean having no standards about presentation of my dc for awhile

IncyWincyGrownUp · 04/10/2018 22:35

ineed I have a generic teenager. Left to her own devices she could fill my 8kg machine three times a week just with the hoodies she owns and wears until they are rancid, then there’s jeans, tee shirts, school uniform, underwear...

Washing machines are very cheap to run, I’d rather she used a scoop of powder and got her crap out of the way regularly than leave it all to me:)

OrangeOrBlackcurrant · 04/10/2018 22:39

My 18,13 and 8 year old all can. 5 year old just learning. Older 2 do all their own laundry. I want my future daughter in laws to like me!

Justgivemesomepeace · 04/10/2018 22:43

My 16 yr old can, she done her washing from time to time for a couple of years. Sometimes she does it sometimes I do. Hanging it up to dry however, is a work in progress. She's a lazy sod and just chucks it bunched up over the maiden or radiators. I have to re do it so it will actually dry.

TheThirdOfHerName · 04/10/2018 22:46

Washing machines are very cheap to run

In your own home, yes. Not if you have to pay as you go. To wash and dry one load is usually around £5.

Screaminginsidemeagain · 04/10/2018 22:49

My 12 and 19 year olds can and have been able to for a few years, they also regularly cook dinner

Screaminginsidemeagain · 04/10/2018 22:49

12 and 10 sorry

pickleface · 04/10/2018 23:06

My 13yo puts her own wash on because I warned her her dad had no concept of seperating colours.

I imagine dd12 will not care one bit and need said videos

BitOutOfPractice · 04/10/2018 23:23

Dd1 has just started uni and is reasonably helpless but she reports that the other 8 kids in her flat are absolutely incapable of even the most basic tasks apart from one lad who tonight has made a full on fish pie for all of them. Other than that, it's instant noodles all the way.

Dd2 (15) can do basic cooking, cleaning, washing etc.

Graphista · 05/10/2018 00:14

Dd has been raised to be very independent and has been able to cook a meal, run a wash load (and dry and put it away), change bed etc since she was 13!

But I was also a mature student over a decade ago now at uni last time I went and I was genuinely shocked at some (not all but certainly a significant minority!) who couldn't even bloody boil a pan of pasta! And it wasn't always out of laziness, some of them their parents were ridiculously over protective not wanting 17 year olds to deal with boiling water or sharp knives! Completely Ridiculous!

I ended up teaching a few of them BASIC cooking skills (I didn't offer! I was invited to dinner, the person who invited me got in a kerfuffle and panicked and yelled for help! I rescued the meal, this was in a "halls" house and other housemates noticed, next thing I'm getting asked all sorts! I ended up jotting down basic cheap "recipes").

I became a student rep too and so many were really struggling financially, not out of just being unnecessarily profligate, but because they hadn't been taught to budget (some had never had either a paying job or organised allowance/pocket money so they'd no idea how to manage what seemed to them a fortune when they got their full terms SLC payment in one go! Thought they were rich and spent accordingly), as well as pointing them in right direction re serious debt, I went through some budgeting basics with them.

How long does £X need to last me therefore that gives me £X per week I can spend.

Not buying the branded groceries they were used to having at home, usually not realising these were expensive and cheaper versions were available.

Bulk buying - I advised those who were interested in organising themselves to have Costco membership and bulk buy eg toilet rolls out of a house kitty.

Re laundry, one once came into a lecture flustered having done the old "turned everything pink" thing, I asked if it were all still wet? She said yes, I pointed her in direction of colour run remover and told her to buy some cheap colour catchers at the same time. After she'd used it she was so wonderfully thankful it was like I'd parted the seas! Got a wee box of chocs for that one 😃

BUT WHY aren't their parents teaching them? Aside from homes where there's issues of perhaps ill or very busy parents etc (although tbh kids in these homes I've found DO learn cos they're having to help out) this is surely part of preparing your child to become a self sufficient independent adult!

The parents referenced in the op - the time they took to make the videos could SURELY have been better used to teach in person in a way the child can ask questions etc?

"It's less complex than an Xbox" ah now there I admit defeat! Wouldn't even know how to turn one on! 😂😂

Ineedaholidaynow - only me and dd, dd does her own has done for several years. We don't have loads of clothes but when you include towels, bedding etc there's always enough for a full load even though we each do our own. Just don't wash particularly frequently. I do maybe 2 loads a week.

"Also with homework and clubs, DS would not have time to do washing and ironing during the week." We don't iron (both disabled, I find if clothes hung and tidied away in a timely fashion they don't need ironing anyway). But even washing takes all of 5/10 mins to put a load on, automatic machine does the work while you do whatever, and then 15/20 mins to unload and hang. Dd also had homework and clubs etc and managed.

Idiotical - similar reason why dd started doing her own - I got fed up being in the wrong for washing the "wrong" but totally identical school jumper! Argh!

Maccycheesefries · 05/10/2018 02:49

My ds is 10 & can put on a wash, he's been doing it since reception.

Stillwishihadabs · 05/10/2018 03:10

Eds at 14 is a more capable launderer than his Dad at 44

Stillwishihadabs · 05/10/2018 05:53

Ds not eds

HollyBollyBooBoo · 05/10/2018 05:57

My 8 year old can - and does. Plus she's just started earning to cook. I'd be mortified if she left home not having some basic domestic skills.

Stillwishihadabs · 05/10/2018 06:13

Incidentally there isn't a male gendered noun for laundress- interesting

ileclerc · 05/10/2018 07:58

My 7 year olds know how to turn the machine and what cycle we use. Mostly because they are always under my feet and therefore have been 'helping' since they were toddlers.

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