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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Were you taught to use a washing machine

291 replies

Justreadingtheforum3 · 03/06/2021 08:38

Please settle this argument between my husband and me.

Were you taught/shown to use a washing properly as a child? On how to not overload it, setting, temperature etc?

He said "no child in the history of the world has been taught to use a washing machine" his exact words.

I said its basic life skills.

Yabu = no I wasnt taught
Yanbu = yes I was taught

Ps he does use the washing machine and regularly washes. It's not a husband bashing thread.

OP posts:
Pinkblueberry · 03/06/2021 12:45

My mum showed me when I was around 14. I had a laundry basket in my own room and washed my own clothes from then on.

gobackanddoitproperly · 03/06/2021 12:47

No. It's a bit like cleaning a toilet really. I didn't do either until I left home. Of course you pick up things like not washing colours on a hot wash with whites etc. But no, I never received a lesson in it. Come to think of it, nor cooking.

gobackanddoitproperly · 03/06/2021 12:48

@Pinkblueberry

My mum showed me when I was around 14. I had a laundry basket in my own room and washed my own clothes from then on.
I'm always a bit fascinated by this. (and I'm not being critical at all). But I wonder at the practicalities of it all. If there are several children, or even just two, and a set of parents in the one household and they all do their own washing, doesn't that create a logistical issue?
MasterBeth · 03/06/2021 12:49

Taught? Can’t remember. I guess it was pointed out to me at some point that clothes don’t wash themselves, this is the regular program we use for most stuff and this is the instruction book.

What else do you need to be taught?

TwoZeroTwoZero · 03/06/2021 12:49

No. I must've just learned by copying my parents. Same with my dc: they know how to use our washer despite having never been shown.

yoshiblue · 03/06/2021 12:51

Yes I was absolutely taught and washed loads for the household from the age of 10/11 I think.

Youcunnyfunt · 03/06/2021 12:52

Yes, kind of. My mum showed me at some point the basic settings. I've figured out what some of the others are used for.
I think at various times my mum did tell me it's better to wash sheets separately on a hot wash, towels hot, not to overload, washing new clothes separately if they are dark / saturated colours, etc. Hand washing. Wool wash. All the annoying little nuances on the labels and how to wash different fabrics to last longer.

amusedbush · 03/06/2021 12:55

I had never used a washing machine until I moved out just after my 21st birthday. My then-flatmate had to show me how to use it.

My mum complained that she never had any help around the house but she would flap and hover if we did anything other than wash the dishes or drag the vacuum around.

FakeColinCaterpillar · 03/06/2021 13:05

No. I went to uni and we used the machines in the laundry room and worked it out together.

The only things I was specifically taught were how to write a cheque and how to rewrite a plug. Both useless now.

I was never taught how to shop either. I don’t think you need to be taught things if you are good at working things out.

Sparklingbrook · 03/06/2021 13:08

@RandomLondoner

I was taught how to change a tyre though. Much more useful.

I'm sceptical. A rough calculation tells me I've used a washing machine 1924 times in my adult life. I've changed a tyre zero times, despite being a driver during all of the same period.

No need to be sceptical. I changed a couple of tyres as a teenager. Now I would probably call the AA and be lazy TBF. But could do it if I needed to and that’s reassuring to me.
mommybear1 · 03/06/2021 13:09

Yes I was taught - it's stuck with me because ours was an old Phillips machine, dark clothes wash was No 7 and white towel wash was No 5 - I still refer to my washes as such 🤣.

TwoAndAnOnion · 03/06/2021 13:10

@Justreadingtheforum3

Please settle this argument between my husband and me.

Were you taught/shown to use a washing properly as a child? On how to not overload it, setting, temperature etc?

He said "no child in the history of the world has been taught to use a washing machine" his exact words.

I said its basic life skills.

Yabu = no I wasnt taught
Yanbu = yes I was taught

Ps he does use the washing machine and regularly washes. It's not a husband bashing thread.

No.

it has idiot pictures on the front. And a book

DontLookEthel · 03/06/2021 13:11

No. Unless someone has learning difficulties it easy enough to work out how to use one.

ChainJane · 03/06/2021 13:11

No. When I was a student I used a launderette which was simple enough to work out - put your washing in, put your detergent in, close the lid and put your money in. With machines I've owned they've always been self-explanatory, though I can read the manual of course if I can't work it out.

The only disaster I've had was caused by putting in too much detergent. When detergents became concentrated I still put the same amount in, for several years!

I did wonder why bubbles sometimes flooded the kitchen floor... Blush

Peach01 · 03/06/2021 13:13

I must've although I don't remember specifically. I never just looked at it and knew how it all operated & as a child my interest in paying attention to my mum using it was in the minus. So yeah, was shown.

TroysMammy · 03/06/2021 13:23

@ToWhere I think there was a section in the Brownies House Orderly badge to handwash a pair of socks. I'm going back about 45 years now.

EBearhug · 03/06/2021 13:28

Yes. We started off quite young with sorting colours and checking pockets were empty - white, lights, darks. Also hanging out on the line in the garden, once we could reach, and rushing to get everything in if it started raining, or more calmly if it was just dry.

I think temperatures came about after a wool jumper in a hot cotton wash experience, but also around tween age, we were starting to use the sewing machine and use the iron under supervision, and learning different fabrics aren't all the same.

From my teens, we'd get notes like, "gone to work, hang out washing when done, put white load in, powder here, fab cond here (mini diagram of powder drawer slots), 60 on temp." This was for me, my sister and Dad, whoever was around first. By 6th form, it was just, "hang wash out, do whites next." We never separated out different people's washing, just colours, but by 6th form, we had to do our own ironing.

There was also a lesson at school at some point, looking at all the different washing machine symbols on clothing labels. I can't remember if it was needlework, which would have been about age 13, or we had some classes to prepare us for real life, which included how to write a cheque, sale of goods act and consumer rights, and some other things like that, which was age 15-16, as we were approaching the end of compulsory schooling.

My mother was always clear that by 18, we were expected to leave home, and should know how to run a house. She was a bit shit on the emotional side of parenting, but I can't fault her on the practical side - cooking, housework, laundry. I was shocked at uni to find people who didn't know how to boil an egg or heat a tin of beans, let alone do their laundry.

SkiingIsHeaven · 03/06/2021 13:31

I wasn't shown how to use a twin tub washing machine but did get given a quick lesson in the newfangled ones with buttons and programmes.

EBearhug · 03/06/2021 13:34

No need to be sceptical. I changed a couple of tyres as a teenager. Now I would probably call the AA and be lazy TBF. But could do it if I needed to and that’s reassuring to me.

I know how to change a tyre. Last time I tried, it turned out I am physically incapable of undoing the nuts.

EBearhug · 03/06/2021 13:35

I wasn't shown how to use a twin tub washing machine

I'm not sure I was tall enough to see in it by the time ours was replaced.

21biobaby · 03/06/2021 13:37

I was taught, more so on separating washing and not over loading ect.

RoseDog · 03/06/2021 13:42

I was taught, my mum had a hysterectomy when I was about 14 and she taught me, my dad already knew how to use it but he worked and my mum would be out of action for weeks turned into months because the op went wrong.

cadburyegg · 03/06/2021 13:44

Yes. I was doing my own washing since before i was a teenager

Cdstjooyv · 03/06/2021 13:46

My almost 3 year old has learnt to use it just from observation. It’s now his job to do it with my supervision

MaryBoBary · 03/06/2021 13:51

I wasn't taught how, just figured it out when I moved out.