If you work full time, would you do your 17/18 year old's washing and ironing?

[bookworm8500]

As the title says really, do you?

Daughter is 17 (18 in September).

She is doing her A-Levels and has a part time job.

She spends the rest of her time with friends or on her phone (hours and hours in her room on her phone, like so many kids this age I guess).

I work full time.

I find myself resentful standing here for hours doing her ironing whilst she is chilling in her bedroom..

I don't mind washing as it all gets chucked in, but the ironing grates on me

Do you do your almost adult child's ironing?

YABU - of course I do
YANBU - no, I don't!

I only iron for weddings. We wash dd1’s clothes because they go in with the family washing so washing separately feels odd. Summer holidays I’ll be getting her putting on the wash.

I do the laundry in our house. Plenty of things I don't do & I do far less cooking than DH. DC is an adult living in a different City but if he comes home for a few days I do his too. I always offer.

My 17 year old son has been doing his own laundry for the last 2 years.

I wouldn’t be standing there ironing for him! Whilst I’ll chuck everyone’s else’s clothes into the wash (ie DH and other DC) I only iron my own stuff

Nothing gets ironed here. My six year old puts on and hangs up washing (supervised and with help putting in detergent of course) so no reason why your daughter can't!

Ironing isn't a life skill though. People need to eat and be clean but no one needs ironed clothes.

My DC are perfectly able to do washing. I’m not sure it requires a whole apprenticeship to learn.

It it however much easier to throw it all in the machine and be done with it.

I did the washing for that age but made them do their own ironing most of the time.

they are adults now but they still don’t do much ironing

Our son does his own laundry (including bedding and towels) when home from uni. We don't iron much at all but if he wanted any of his stuff ironed he would have to do that too.

Admittedly he didn't do laundry until he left for uni. Laundry is usually a DH job and he carried on doing it without really thinking but when he left for uni it was a good prompt to make a new rule. I think if laundry was "my job" I would have handed it over much quicker.

I do clean the bathrooms and that annoys me a bit, that i work full time and the kids have more free time than me but I think if I didn't do it, no one else would bother or care. I moaned about it yesterday and son said why didn't I get a cleaner. I said I will when you've finished uni and I don't have to send you a monthly maintenance top up any more!

He does most of his own cooking to be fair as he is vegan and we aren't and I do expect him to clear up after himself.

I think it's important for young folk to do some stuff for themselves. My mum did everything for me and I was utterly clueless when I left home.

I would do washing but as I detest Ironing she can do that herself if she wants or she can go out in wrinkled clothes, most teenage girls are so concerned with their appearance ( nothing unusual) that she will do it if she needs to

I don't do it out of choice, sometimes a pair or a t shirt will end up in the wash and i've not noticed, if I do pick it up before it goes in the washer it goes back in their room

I don't do it out of choice, sometimes a pair or a t shirt will end up in the wash and i've not noticed, if I do pick it up before it goes in the washer it goes back in their room

The girlfriends of DS1 and DS2 are different sizes and I know what one would wear the other wouldn't.

I don't do it out of choice, sometimes a pair or a t shirt will end up in the wash and i've not noticed, if I do pick it up before it goes in the washer it goes back in their room.

It doesn't happen very often

Yes this. Surely you show teenagers how to do their washing.

People still iron 😂
I wash my teenage lads clothes , dry & fold for them , I do have an iron but it hardly ever needs to be used , I 💯 wouldn’t be ironing though if it did have to be done , & aside from anything, you said you feel resentful. .
Stop then OP 🤷🏻‍♀️ 🙂

When mine were about 11 they got a job each in the house and they had to empty the dishwasher twice a week each. At 15 they became responsible w their own laundry. And they cooked a night each. We had a younger child though so I wasn’t doing sleepless nights and all the housework.

Nothing is ever ironed in this house. But we all work out and run so there is a massive amount of laundry.

Of course I'd put my teens laundry in the machine. It would waste energy and money doing separate loads. I'm the Queen of sorting but my teens will put in machine, turn on and put on washing line when asked repeatedly and in capital letters by text.

No one irons in our house except dh though

I would do her washing if she sorted it first.

ditto towels but would not go looking for them

would not change or wash her bed linen

would not do her ironing.

I work full time and do my 18yos washing. I generally don’t iron though will do him a shirt if he asks which isn’t often. I plan to teach him properly over the summer before he goes to uni. He puts his clothes in the wash basket, changes his own bed and puts his clean clothes away. He can put a wash on but hasn’t done it often. He will empty the dryer when asked.

I only iron school uniform. Also stopped ironing everything in Covid.

I didn't know people ironed jeans

I'll wash anything that ends up in the washing basket. Already split by colour, so it's literally pull out the contents and stick in machine.
Whoever is around when it's done hangs it out.

Mine are younger. I iron school and work shirts. That's it. So nothing for DS1 after June. He has just ironed some bits he wants doing tho. DS2 has nothing that would be ironed.

@bookworm8500 start by not ironing jeans! Or teeshirts if you are wearing them under a jumper (ie in winter). Then move to careful folding of teeshirts, and you'll find very few need ironing.

Washing,yes, because how difficult is it to chuck it in with the everyone else's laundry? But ironing,no way! I hate ironing with a vengeance and do as little as possible,so no way would I be doing someone else's who is capable of doing their own!

I stopped doing my DCs washing when I realised it was just going round in circles and not being worn, I'd put clean clothes on their bed, they'd move them to the floor and then when tidying up put them in the wash, that or they'd wear something for 5 minutes and it would then end up in the washing bin.

I also believe that preparing DC for adulthood is a good thing, both of mine left home at 18 for uni, knowing how to wash, iron, clean, shop/meal plan and cook.

It is a conversation that I was having with some friends recently. My DC are now in their 20s and when they were little they would come to the shops with me, just like I had with my mum when I was a child. One younger friend who had her DC later in life never takes them to the shops, she does a weekly online order and that is it, clothes etc comes online too and they are now late primary, early secondary and she still does it all, food is prepared at meal times and served up. Washing is done, clothes put away and each night she still puts out their clothes for the next day, packs their school bag and lunch.

I just don’t buy clothing that needs ironing unless for special occasions.

doing laundry is one of the easiest chores for a teenager to take on. It works nicely because they are the only one who suffers if it isn’t done. I would hand over the entire chore.