At what age should a child start ironing?

[Boogers]

H and I had a big argument last night about the things that DS(12) can and can't do. I said DS should be learning how to iron by now, to which H strongly disagreed.

I remember ironing my dad's hankerchiefs when I was about 7 or 8, and when I was about 12 or 13 I was ironing my school uniform on a Sunday evening (in autumn it was 5 shirts, 3 box pleated skirts, 1 blazer, in summer it was 5 dresses and 1 blazer).

DS had no issues with co-ordination or ability to sense hot and cold, there is no reason why he can't learn to use an iron. H says that he and his brother never ironed when they were younger (his brother is 40 and has never ironed in his life; his parents, my in-laws, do it all for him).

Who is being unreasonable here, me or H? Should I encourage DS to learn how to iron?

Sure, but if you happen to iron their stuff, why not teach them?

The OP irons her children's clothes, so she asked if this was a good age to teach her DS to do it. Which is. He's perfectly capable of learning at this age.
It takes 15 min and he'll be able to start sorting his own stuff.

I think for this question it's irrelevant whether other people iron or not.

And IMO the more we and children learn the better. What we learn doesn't harm us.

Ds had to learn how to iron in textiles at school. I hadn't taught him before as he is unusually small for his age & our iron is heavy.

He actually burnt himself at school but since then I've made him practice at home.

Teach him, in later life he will look smart in a world of crumpled slatterns.

This always makes me laugh as the lads & girls I know who are best at ironing are the tough army cadets (& polishing shoes!)

I like all my clothes ironed. DH does it. Apart from the boys school stuff which they do themselves, he irons everything except underwear, duvet covers and sheets. He does tea towels, towels and pillowslips though. I can iron perfectly well and if he wasn't around I'd do it. It's his chore of choice along with the kitchen, dishes, garden, bins etc. To me it's personal choice if course, but I think it makes the clothes feel nicer as well as look better.

Our view is that life is too short to spend it ironing, so we pay to get it done. We don't have a cleaner so do everything else ourselves but ironing is generally a no go area unless we need one item of clothing quickly. But we get 5yo ds to help with everything else and he has to tidy up after himself. We started him on the dishwasher when he was a toddler who wanted to help and it's gone on from there really. I couldn't bear to raise an indulged boy who turns into a helpless and lazy man.

Why would anyone iron a t-shirt?

Because if they're made from cotton they look much better ironed.

And not everyone can afford to outsource the task.

Meh, it's a tenner a month so we're not breaking any banks.

my DH does all our ironing ,and my 25 year old and 18 year olds know how to in a very basic way, but don't actually iron as such, I never ironed until I had my own house. Probably lazy parenting on my behalf, but I don't think your son is too young. His future partner will probably thank you for it!!!!

I ironed from about eight, my Dad ironed more than my Mum, he was in the Merchant Navy and liked things 'ship shaped', but was prepared to do what was needed to get his standards met.

My eldest ironed from 13 (ADHD) made her forgetful/careless/dangerous.
My middle from around 10 and my youngest from 13 (SN).

We all wear clothes that would look crap unironed. My youngest was quite proud of herself when she started to be able to fully self care.

I need to be watching something, to iron for over fifteen minutes.

I suspect I only ironed things when I left home to go to uni.

Anyway, I married someone who irons better than I do and prefers to do his own shirts. He also irons pyjamas but I can't be bothered, I just dry them and put them back on.

But non-iron doesn't really mean that, it does need ironing. I do iron quite a lot of stuff but only so that it's wearable, not so that it's perfectly pressed. I'm not very good at it but I don't think I would have been any better if I had started at 10. My mum used to iron everything including underwear.

We outsource our duvet cover - that gets washed and pressed at the local dry cleaners, £6 a fortnight.

Meh, it's a tenner a month so we're not breaking any banks.

No. Not breaking your bank.

It's not a criticism btw, lots of people choose to spend their money on all sorts of things that other people wouldn't. But when you are short of cash, outsourcing 'domestic' tasks is more unlikely.

I taught my eldest to iron when he was about 12. He always did his own clothes from then. I met up with him a month after he left home. An 18 year old student. The most crumpled student I have ever seen My eyes watered looking at him. Jeans and a tee. I never said a word. My kids still get taught from 12. Once they are independent, up to them. I know they can do it.

I understand that Nanny as it's the reason we don't pay for a cleaner because that would break our bank! But we do think it's worth prioritising a bit of ironing above, say, a bottle of wine once a month. Some might say that's dreadfully boring though!

The last time I looked into it it was more like £10 per week not a month & I only live in a north Midlands industrial city.

I think the art of hanging clothes to dry so they don't need ironing is a much more useful skill for your DS to learn.

Ballet I suspect our standards are not as high as many! Most of my clothes don't crease, I only get ds's 'best' clothes (e.g uniform) ironed (he has multiple trousers and jumpers) and dh's work things (he also owns multiple shirts). Therefore they pile up for 3-4 weeks and then we pay a tenner (or £15 if ironing lady says it's classed as a large load). I live in an East Anglian city.

DS2 is brilliant at ironing his school shirts. Has been since he was 9. However, getting him to do it is not so easy. I normally ask both boys (16 and 12) to do their own school uniforms.

My Mum is always that I iron fck all (pretty much just DP's shirt for a wedding/christening) ... love that the first page is full of people saying they don't iron either, Mother would have a head fit!

btw I'll still teach DD to iron when she's about 8/9, upto her whether she bothers when she's older.

I'm amazed at how many of you don't iron!! How are your clothes not creased?!?!

I think the art of hanging clothes to dry so they don't need ironing is a much more useful skill for your DS to learn.
Nobody needs to choose one or the other...

DS1 is 10 and can iron DH's work shirt. He came up with the idea because DH and I both despise ironing but work shirts have to be ironed (I fold the rest of the laundry and hang stuff up so nothing else ever needs doing). DS1 said he would charge DH 50p for every shirt he ironed. He earns an extra £4 on average every so often doing a batch, it teaches him a life skill (which he will never use) and means I don't have to listen to DH bitching when he does them.

Never. I'll just teach them to buy clothes that don't crease easily. DH irons his shirts for work (but he probably didn't do that until he was in his 30s) and I don't iron anything. My clothes don't have loads of creases in them.
Anyway, what is there to learn?

The only thing I iron is their uniform but I'm going to look into non iron for September now . Hate ironing. Mum never taught me how to do anything domestic and that's one thing I'm still shit at.

Time your son is a genius.

I don't iron. We don't have an iron or a board. If we had one, and my children wanted things ironed it would be up to them to learn how from being about 10 onwards.

As it is, the tumble dryer sees us right as nobody in the house wears 'proper' shirts. Sorted:o