To ask the children to strip and remake their beds?

[QuckTheDuck]

Aged 9-14.

Someone at work said they still stripped and remade their teens beds and another does it for their child in their early twenties.

I make mine do their own, and have done for a while.

Am I just really harsh? Feeling a bit bad that they have it as one of their chores tbh now :(

You are the good Mum. I am the failure. My DS are 14 & 16 and I do it but that will change very soon. Thank you

I made my own bed since I was young. My DH didnt. Guess who makes the bed now?

It's making the bed not scrubbing the toilet with a toothbrush.

YANBU

LOL, nope.

Mine have been doing that since the age of six.

I had a niece come and stay who was 19 and had never stripped or remade her bed. Her uncle was horrified, and made sure this situation was rectified.

YANBU at all. When I left home I had a huge shock when it came to doing most things, I had no idea how to make a bed for example. It’s good to teach children basic life skills instead of doing everything for them.

7 and 9 do - they still need a bit of help with the duvet cover. 3yo helps by passingme things and putting her pillow back! never to young to start learning!

I ask DSDs 12 and 14 to strip their beds and I asked 14 yr old to make hers this weekend and I expected the same from my own kids from about 11/12 but well done you for getting in so early it’s a life skill.

I saw my DD the other day (she has left home) and she was disgusted that one of her friends who is in her 30s still takes her washing and ironing home to her mum as she has been doing her own since she was about 14.

My 4 year old makes his own bed every morning. He helps me strip it and remake it, I'll put the duvet inside the cover and he'll shake it.

My mum was physically disabled so I started stripping and remaking mine around 9 too. To be honest I found putting the duvet back on a single easy, even as I child. I still struggle with my kingsize one now

Mine all strip their beds and the 2 teens remake theirs. I will make the younger 2 remake theirs once they are in secondary school.

They also lay and clear the table, hoover, hang out washing, help with meal prep and the older ones have cooked meals for the family on occasion. All part of preparing them for life without a domestic slave, sorry mother, to do it all for them!

Children SHOULD do things themselves if they are capable and have the time for it. I'm not sure when exactly my daughter started to remake her own bed, but she certainly did at 9 years old ... maybe with a little bit of help from me to put the sheet on, since she had a loft bed and the mattress was hard to reach for her from the floor.

My teenage ds would never strip their bed if I left it to them, so I strip their beds and leave the clean sheets on their beds.

We made our own as kids. And ironed school uniforms, did the dishes and pegged the washing out.

I was doing my bed and own laundry from around twelve years. Mum ironed my school blouses but I did all other clothes. You are having them learn good life skills, I never struggled with cooking, cleaning etc at uni.

@camrose
Why don't you just TELL them to do it? Teenagers are often quite disgusting, not surprising they don't do it without being promted ;)

I stripped and made my own as a child as far back as I can remember.
DP's DM stripped and made his bed until he left home. He struggles to make the bed now (particularly the duvet).
It's so important to teach these things to children.

My boys, 11&8 do their own, the youngest gets some help but needs less and less. They also put away all their own clothes, vac, feed the pets, and open/close all the shutters round the house morning and night.

It's day to day life not slave labour, and there is no bloody way I'm raising men who think their partner should do everything l. They are also damn good at using their initiative, if they see something needs doing they will get on with it (though that backfired once-I lost a dyson to a gone wrong experiment making slime) or ask for help if needed.

I understand letting them off for exam time when they are older, but school and extra curricular activities shouldn't stop them doing a few minutes a day-we are supposed to be preparing them for an independent life.

@SmartPlay
Yes I have told them repeatedly in the past but they are very busy (late teens) and I prefer to choose my battles.
Ds1 is at uni now and used just one set of bed linen last term (9 weeks) - very disgusting in my eyes, but he just shrugged his shoulders. It just isn’t important to either of them.

Mine is 12, I don't always ask her too but I do try and ask because it's good for her. It's imperative all our dc know the basics etc.

My 2 DD's were doing there bed's on a weekly basis by the time they were 12,
My friend has 23 year old twins and still does there washing and ironing

DD can do it and will do it apart from the sheet which is a struggle due to the way the bed it located in her room.

But as with lots of things, I will do it once in a while when I go round and do the beds during a weekday and can’t wait for her to do it.

Oh thank goodness! I was feeling really guilty. The way they reacted made me feel like I was a horrible slave driver who doesn't care about her children!

I had a very capable mother, who did everything, on the basis that she did it better.

I remember getting to my first flatting situation, facing the disgusting toilet (flatting with three male engineers), and thinking, 'shit. I know it has to be cleaned - I just don't know HOW to clean it'! Being a reasonably intelligent person, I figured it out - but I vowed my kids wouldn't be allowed to leave home without knowing how to do all the basic tasks.

(I also learned the skill of bullying males into doing their share of domestic chores that year, as well. . .)