I have three laundry baskets in our laundry room: one for kitchen towels and dishrags, one for white clothes, and one for darks. I do this to make sorting the laundry easier. One day, Sarah Beth asked me about it, and that day my older children started sorting laundry.
The white clothes go into a white basket, and the darks go into a blue basket. When my children get dressed in the morning or put on their pajamas at night, they are able to put their dirty clothes in the correct basket with just a little bit of prompting. They have learned what clothes go into which basket which makes my laundry job a little bit easier. Right now, Sarah Beth and Daniel are the ones who do the sorting, but Rachel has watched them enough that sometimes she puts her clothes up, too. I probably should start working with her more now that she's two years old.
Yes, I still have to sort the dark clothes again before washing them. If my laundry room were bigger, if I could fit more baskets in it, I would certainly try having them sort the darks even more.
Daniel and Sarah also help me fold clothes. At times, it feels like a free-for-all as I train them how I like things to be folded, but it's worth it. I definitely want to encourage their desire to help, and I have to admit that I look forward to the day when I can turn the clothes folding over to them.
I know that some people actually have their children run the washer and dryer, but my children cannot reach the controls. And they can't read them. So I haven't gotten this far yet in training my children to do laundry. Besides, I'm a little particular about how the laundry gets washed, and it can wait a couple more years until my children are better able to do it.
Do you have your children help with laundry? What do they do?
6 comments:
This is great :) My girls like to load the washer and dryer {we have a front loading washer} but that's it. Sophie is probably ready to start helping me fold, but I haven't started on that with her.
Good for your kiddos! I'm so glad we started having our kids help with the laundry when they were little. My kids now do much of the laundry on their own.
It is awesome that your kiddos help with the laundry!
The boys do as well. They put their dirty clothes in the correct hamper. They help me load the washer and change the clothes from the washer to the dryer. They also help fold kitchens cloths and towels, wash clothes and simple things. They put their laundry away and they also strip their beds when I wash bed linens. They can put clean pillow cases on their pillows. they will be 6 in March.
Laundry is a great thing for children to do!! I don't let my children run the machines either...they can't reach the washer controls, plus it was expensive and I don't want it accidentally broken anyway! I used to let them run the dryer but the knob broke off and I have to use plyers to start it, which they can't do. :) But they do deal with their own dirty laundry, sort, fold, and put their own things away. The putting away saves me so much time! You are right about it taking more time and energy to train them up front, but it will certainly pay off in the long run!
Laundry is a great thing for children to do!! I don't let my children run the machines either...they can't reach the washer controls, plus it was expensive and I don't want it accidentally broken anyway! I used to let them run the dryer but the knob broke off and I have to use plyers to start it, which they can't do. :) But they do deal with their own dirty laundry, sort, fold, and put their own things away. The putting away saves me so much time! You are right about it taking more time and energy to train them up front, but it will certainly pay off in the long run!
That's a great way to begin training your children to help with the laundry.
Now that mine are older (11 and 9), they fold and put away all of the laundry - but it was definitely a teaching process for awhile! My oldest is also responsible for doing a load of towels each weekend (putting in washer, then dryer). I could probably have her do darks/lights, but haven't assigned her that chore yet.
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