Is 12 too young to do your own laundry?

[Sam Spade]

12 is not too young for anything other than making major life decisions

[melodymatters]

Wow BO, many changes since we last saw each other here on LS ! Congrats of the "meaningless" marriage ( JOKING, I just know you don't see it any different one way or another) !

 

This is a tough age, AND you have his issues with his mom, and you being the bonus mom which makes it all tougher.

 

My daughters dad and I divorced when she was a baby ( guess she was too young to be "scarred", she/we just dealt with things as they were, no guilt. If I had kept that alcoholic druggie around, THEN I would have felt guilty !) and she was always quite bright and sturdy. She started doing laundry at about ten in our own laundry room, but I never made her fold, organize things perfecty.

 

Basically she had two bins : Clean and dirty. Florida clothes : T-shirts and shorts, didn't exactly need hangers and dry cleaning, so as long as she knew what was clean and what was dirty, I was happy.

 

AND, as an advantage to not being spoiled or coddled, at 16 she is actually really mature. She just started college ( Combo HS/still get college credits and work towards your degree program) and took my advice and sat right up front in between " two old people instead of the cool looking kids in the back" LOL

 

She realizes this is HER time and money being spent, so skipping, failing etc is simply ridiculous.

 

And, she misses my cooking, so she is starting to cook for the whole family : curries, Thai food, Italian..

 

So, they CAN start being sane again after these awful tween/early teen stages. ESPECIALLY if they are taught about the real world sooner rather than later.

 

Best of luck !!!!!

[Angel1111]

My son has been doing his own laundry since he was about 10. By the time he was 16, he was so particular about how it's done, he had to give me specific instructions on how to wash his clothes - on the rare occasion that he needed me to. Usually he only trusts me with moving his clothes from the washing maching to the dryer - only if he isn't there.

 

One day I was on the phone talking to a friend and I paused so that he could explain to me how to do his laundry because he was running late for something. After a few minutes, he saw the confused look on my face and sighed. He said, "Nevermind, I'll do it myself. You'll just mess it up." My friend overhead this on the phone and nearly died laughing. She asked how do you do that??? I told her it was because I'm so dumb I just can't be trusted.

[GorillaTheater]

With the size of our crew, everybody has to pitch in. The older kids take turns with laundry and washing dishes. Right now we're teaching our 8 year old son to do laundry.

 

It's to their advantage, ultimately. I was in my early 20s before I could wash a load without screwing something up.

[ReturnToSender]

Kiddo has been helping with laundry since...forever! Maybe since she was around 5 or so? Shed want to help me fold and put it away...Id let her do hers...and it wasnt what Id call folding, and shed do silly things like hang up her socks and "fold" her dresses and put them in her underwear drawer..hah! But to me, it wasnt a matter of doing it right, it was a matter of she wanted to be helpful and I wasnt going to make her feel like "if its not perfect, dont bother"

 

Anyway...by the time she was around 10, Id separate her clothes out to fold herself (and yes, she was much better at it by then!) and now that shes 12, she does all her own laundry. She doesnt mind since, because its just the two of us I only do laundry once a week...sometimes more depending. She doesnt like waiting around on me..especially if she wants to wear a certain something and its still in the hamper..shed rather just do it herself. I wont let her iron though...she has to bring it to me for that.

 

cooking is the same thing...whatever she could help with she did...even something as small as bringing me the ingredients from the fridge to stirring something up for me. For a long whlie now, she could prepare stuff that didnt require the stove (shes the official salad dressing maker in the house for a few years now) and now in the past year she can use the stove and really is a good cook...better than me Im afraid

[IfWishesWereHorses]

Basically she had two bins : Clean and dirty. Florida clothes : T-shirts and shorts, didn't exactly need hangers and dry cleaning, so as long as she knew what was clean and what was dirty, I was happy.

Oh, thank you! I feel better! This is my daughters method also (at 21), I question sometimes whether she actually knows which bin is which! And same thing, tees, shorts, undies and sleepwear, she does fold her jeans!

[SummerLady]

I had to do my own laundry as soon as I could see over the washing machine.

 

Do you think 12 is too young to do your own laundry?

 

NO Way!!! 12 is fine.......

[allina]

I would never make a 12 year old do laundry. Kids need to focus on school, and when they're not at school on being kids and playing.

[bentnotbroken]

Not only did my kids do laundry at 10, they did dishes, yard work and was responsible for cleaning their rooms and one other room in the house. They loaded and unloaded the dishwasher and dryer. They still do and they are in their late teens and early 20's. They do a good job, especially since they cook now.

[Tayla]

Primarily when my sons were young, if they couldn't repair it then they had no right being around it. Now that might seem silly because as adults some of us cant repair a wash machine or a lawn mower. But if you tell them they cant drive a car, by golly they will learn how to repair it. Change tires, battery, spark plugs. Same too with wanting things. It worked both ways. No I dont expect children to have chores that need adult supervision. Try to have a kid sense that the gas line is messed up on a dryer yet have no way to shut off the gas valve. Or the washer when it has a bad hose and floods the basement. Things like this do happen and a parent needs to be accountable if delegating. Learn safety then learn to moderate the chore accordingly.

Kids are not servants to the family. Delegating certain duties , taking the trash out, cleaning windows, making beds,folding laundry. can be ones that some can handle.

[RedDevil66]

ugh, my BF's kids are 12 and 14 and they don't even know how to work a microwave!

YES, I think all kids should be taught how to be self suffcient

[whimsical_memory]

This might be setting myself up to be jumped on..but..here goes.

 

 

My girls [that live with me] are nine and six. They both do their own laundry, including starting the wash, drying, folding and putting away. They also are responsible for keeping their beds made and rooms clean. I pick up the house on the weekdays, but on the weekends, they have their own chore list which include cleaning the bathroom, mopping and vacuuming the house. I don't want them growing up thinking that everything is going to be done for them, and in fact, they both enjoy cleaning up and enjoy knowing that the house looks neat and tidy because of their hard work.

[SoleMate]

My kids started helping at age 4.

 

Age 10 is plenty old enough to be 100% laundry self-sufficient.

 

I sometimes fold it for them if I am feeling especially loving.

[bluewolf17]

:pI started doing my own laundry in 5th grade. My mom sometimes forgot to check all of our pockets, and a couple of times my Bonnebelle lip gloss would go through the washer and dryer and ruin a whole load of clothes.

 

After 2-3 times, I just stated doing it myself.

 

Come to think of it...sounds like she got off easy!

 

But yeah, they should be doing their own clothes. I went to school, played sports year round, got good grades and held a part time job.

 

there is no reason they can't find time to do laundry

 

my two cents

[ADF]

My dad got his frist rifle at 7. I am pretty sure most 12 year olds can handle doing the laundry.

[squidattack]

My mom never let my siblings and I do our laundry, even when we were in high school. I'm not sure if it was because she didn't want us messing with the washer or dryer or because she wanted us to enjoy our last years of "freedom".

[Ross PK]

I don't see why it's too young.

[angela5674]

Well, you were in the minority then...trust me. I have experience with more than one child of divorce and that was not the norm. Most are spoiled. I remember thinking "learned helplessness" a lot - a term I learned about in one of my child psychology classes.

 

 

I think it depends on the family, actually, not necessarily whether the kid(s) come from a divorced or intact family. I grew up in in an intact family and my mom ALWAYS did the laundry. I don't think I did my own until I was out of the house. However, I'm divorced and have a 12 year old and she does the laundry most weeks. Not because she's my slave by any means, but because 1) there's one less adult in the house to help me and 2) because I believe she needs to learn how to do this stuff so she can be self-sufficient as she gets older.

[Els]

Gosh, when I was 12 I cooked rice, swept the floor (no vacuum cleaner), did the dishes (no dishwasher), and washed my school shoes manually! And I'm 23 now, isn't as if I was born during the WWII era.

 

Then again, I -am- Chinese.

[Angel1111]

My dad got his frist rifle at 7. I am pretty sure most 12 year olds can handle doing the laundry.

 

OMG - that's hysterical! You really can't argue with the logic.

[2sure]

My daughter used to leave clothing all over her room like most kids. When I would tell her to clean it, all of the clothes - clean or dirty - would wind up in the laundry. I would find myself throwing FOLDED clothes into the washer. So - she started doing her own laundry at 9. The added benefit was that she also started keeping her dressers straight and room clean. She doesnt even like me to do her laundry anymore. But I have never let her use bleach. I pay too much for her clothes to see them ruined. Yet.

[HarmonyHope]

I think 12 is plenty old enough. I was doing all my own laundry when I was that age.