Teach Your Kids the Art of Laundry in 7 Steps

Welcome to Laundry 101. I developed this class to teach my children how to do their own laundry. I decided that if they were the ones who create the majority of dirty laundry, they should be the ones to actually DO the laundry. So let’s get down to it.

Step 1 - The Equipment

It’s pretty simple, really. There is a “washer” and a “dryer”. As my 7 year old explains it… one is for the wet clothes and one is for the dry clothes. These are very expensive machines. They are NOT made for washing cats. Or children. I would recommend NOT putting things like crayons and lip gloss into the machine. It isn’t pretty and Mom might have an aneurysm screaming your name.

Step 2 - Sorting Clothes

Most children have learned their colors by the time they are 2. Red is red, blue is blue, etc. If you ask a child to separate blocks by color… they can do it pretty easily. It’s no different for clothes. Make it a game and have the kids separate the white clothes, the red clothes, the dark colored clothes and then everything else. It’s worth a little extra time and effort to have the kids sort them out right. Pretty sure Daddy won’t be too happy wearing pink underwear.

 

Step 3 - Washing

Take one of the piles you just sorted and put them into the washing machine. We have a front loader so it’s easy for the kids. If you have a top loader, your child might need a step stool. Put in enough to fill the washing machine tub… but DO NOT stuff it. Fill soap dispenser with ONE capful of laundry detergent. Each washer will have different controls. Mine is so easy. Turn to “Normal”, push the “On” button. Please remember to push the “On” button so we don’t expect clean clothes at 9pm at night and realize they haven’t been washed. That sucks for everyone. Especially Mom. I might yell again.

Step 4 - Drying

Take the wet clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer. Nothing to add (unless you want to add a fabric softener sheet). Take out lint filter and throw lint in the trash. I repeat… throw it in the TRASH, NOT ON THE FLOOR! Put lint filter back in where you found it. Close door. Turn knob to “Normal” and push the “On” button. As I explained with the washer… PLEASE make sure you TURN ON the dryer. Nothing worse than hoping to find some clean jeans in the morning and realizing they are dripping wet. Do you have any idea how long it takes to dry a pair of jeans? Can’t be done in the 10 minutes before you need to leave for school.

Step 5 - Folding

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know this is tricky. I’m pretty much okay with them folding anything but shirts. Shirts are hard. Shirts are my pet peeve. I hate wrinkles so I’m pretty adamant that they fold shirts properly.

 

Step 6 - Storing

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the hardest part of all. For some reason, my children DO NOT like to put away their freshly laundered and neatly folded clothes. No, the floor is NOT where you store your clean clothes. That’s what you have a closet/dresser for. I know this might come as a surprise to most kids, but the closet/dresser is NOT for shoveling the stuff from the floor when you have 5 minutes to clean your room before you are grounded for life.

 

Step 7 - Reward

Now is NOT the time to reward your children. It is the time to reward the MOM for being proactive and teaching her kids how to do the laundry. So Mom… you can now claim your reward. A hot bath? A cup of coffee? A margarita? Chocolate? Whatever you want is yours.