At what age did your children become responsible for their own laundry?

[WhoWants2Know]

My kids are 14 and almost 13. Up until now, I have washed and dried all the clothes, folded them and put them on a separate shelf for each child to put away. Which they forget. Until I remind them, then nag them, and eventually lose my temper and shout about it.

This summer, the piles have grown, and the kids dig through them and drag everything about. Then they can't find their clothes and get angry at me because they can't find what they want to wear. (Which is generally exactly where I said it would be.)

After the millionth argument about "me losing their clothes" when it's my responsibility to do the laundry, I decided I didn't want to do all the work and also be yelled at for it. So I gave them each a laundry basket and a peg hanger for their small bits to dry on.

They feel like I'm being mean and making life difficult, but is it really that much to ask of teens? I asked at work and one of my colleagues said her 20 something child still brings laundry home for her to wash!

No its not completely unreasonable. Your kids are being unreasonable and illogical for getting mad at you for "losing their clothes" and supposedly making their lives "hard" they need to grow up and realize that you're not always going to be around and when they get a place of their own they're going to have to do their own laundry. You're being a great mom trying to prepare them for the future. However I used to do the exact same thing to my mom I was completely irresponsible and irrational if she tried to make me do my own laundry I would've had a fit. then randomly on one fateful day I just decided I wanted to do it myself, I then had to beg my mom for an ironing board and an iron to keep in my room because I like my clothes pressed. So doing laundry might be a journey and your kids might need to mature a bit more before making that decision for themselves instead of being forced. I have oppositional defiant disorder and don't like to listen to other people forcing their ideas onto me and like to make decisions for myself, Your daughters might be the same way and just need to think about it rationally to make up their mind. If they don't like you "losing" their clothes how can they fix that? Are you always going to be around to do laundry? What will they do in their own apartment? These are questions that they need to ask themselves to realize they're going to have to do laundry. And as for your colleague with that 20 year old baby I'd like to also say that some kids are just duds!