Teenager's washing

[Livedandlearned]

More of a WIBU.

Ds is 17, he loves to wear clothes once and then stick in the wash. I have been washing and ironing 5 shirts every week for him for the last 6 years.

He has now bought more shirts.

WIBU to make him iron his own, as he loves to get them washed as often as possible and I like having weekends that don't involve a massive ironing pile?

17 is too old to be having his washing done for him

Mine were doing their own ironing at 12, when one went to uni he was the only one that could iron and earned a fortune charging housemates!!

The other two just didn't iron but that was up to them.

He's old enough to do it himself now. Show him and let him crack on.

It’s definitely time he did his own washing. Give him warning, ‘As of next week...’ Show him how to use the washing machine, remind him for the first week or two then detach.
Smile sympathetically when it goes wrong but don’t take over.

I would say shirts need washing once you have worn them, i dont iron much inless something really needs doing because after a few minutes of being worn it straightens out anyway. But if he really wants them ironed I'd say he should do it

Oh come on you don't need to ask us this? he needs to be doing his own washing and ironing. He might leave home next year.

Of course he wants a supply of fresh shirts on demand - he isn't the one doing the washing and ironing. At 17 he should have been doing this for years, so hand over the reins today.

Definitely time for him to do his own.

I had an iron bought for me at Xmas when I was 16.Make him do his own he's old enough

Well I agree that he should do his own washing and ironing.
But 5 shirts a week is "normal" not excessive surely?

If he wears one per day the fact he's bought more shouldn't mean any more washing surely. It just means a larger inventory in his wardrobe. Unless he plans on wearing more than one a day..

What's wrong with five shirts a week? Everyone should be wearing clean shirts everyday!

But he should be doing his own laundry, or at least his own ironing. No way would you catch me ironing for my nearly-adult child - I don't even iron for myself!

He might well wear more than one a day, he only has to breathe on it and it goes into the wash basket.

I know this is an age old complaint but I feel torn about making him doing his own. Goodness knows why though as my dm certainly never washed and ironed my clothes at 17.

He should only wear a shirt for one day. He also should wash and iron them himself. My 13 year old learned at 11 how to do his laundry. He does occasionally need reminding. But does it easily and without complaint. Why haven’t you taught him this life skill yet?

You don’t have to ‘make him’ but then don’t complain about him taking you for granted.

I prefer to do the washing all together, but I’m fussy about what goes in a wash together etc. (I’d rather have one wash with all jeans and one wash with dark shirts, another with whites etc. than 3 mixed lots) Kids all learn and put a wash on, so it’s not a matter of babying them at all.

As for ironing...17 is plenty old enough to do his own.

A shirt a day, washed and ironed himself. You should have done this years ago. Don’t let him be a man-child.

Our first week in our own home together l began to iron one of pdhs shirts. He looked at me in horror saying what are you doing? When l replied ironing your shirts he said l iron my own shirts since l was 16 l can do it. Roll on over 30 years and he still does. Prepare him for his wife so she will be as happy as l was.
But my ds just throw them in the dryer and they're perfect. Bet he starts to buy easy iron ones too.

I agree it's a life skill, and that he'll get the hang of it. If he's doing his own, he'll appreciate you washing or ironing the odd load for him a lot more, when he's not taking it for granted.

Why do you feel torn op?

I’ve got teenagers at school and so I wash 10 shorts a week. I iron zero.
In fact my teens both do the majority of the family ironing for pocket money. Along with lots of other house bits. My catchphrase is we are a team in this house.

If your DS is fussy about clothes then wash and dry because that’s easy but put them unironed on a hanger outside on his wardrobe door so they are in view

You need to teach him how to look after himself for once he leaves home and part of that is teaching him how to use a washing machine and iron. Don't feel bad about It, you are doing him a favour teaching him a life lesson

Dd2 was the same, there seemed more clothes in the wash than days of the week. I then decided to make her do her own ironing and funnily enough, the wash load has decreased
Dd1 has not bothered ironing at all but if she wants to walk around like a crumpled mess then so be it.