I loathe laundry. I just do. I don’t know what it is about it, but I just can’t bring myself to do it until we absolutely need it done. I think it has more to do with the folding rather than the actual cleaning. Don’t get me started on dishes. Can’t stand those either.
I say all that to bring up the fact that I make my kids do the laundry. I do, and I’m not ashamed to say it. Yes, the picture above is of the Duchess “helping” mama do her laundry. She was basically throwing her clothes all over the floor but I didn’t deter her from doing so. The same was done with Sonny when he was little. He “helped” mama in the same way, and now, he loves to help with the laundry. He even puts his bed clothes in the washer every sunday because he knows that’s what we do.
Why would I take the time out to get my kids into mundane chores such as the laundry? Yes, in the back of my mind I’d love to live a housewife style like Peggy Bundy and eat bon bons all day in my kitten heels while someone else does the housework but that’s not my reasoning behind it. I want to start the idea of chores, allowance and responsibility off at an early age. Before I know it, Sonny will be asking for money to spend on video games, candy and all over crap that kids waste money on. I want him to see that if you put in some work, you’ll get some reward in return. But in the same aspect, I want them to see that some work can be enjoyable, even the mundane tasks. I also don’t want my kids to think that the only way they’ll be able to save up coinage is to wait for their teeth to fall out. The tooth fairy can only give you so much for those chicklet chompers.
So, this is what we do. Coax the kids to do our work for us and make it seem like a positive part of their daily life. Now if I could only get my husband to do the dishes(correctly), I’d be set for life.
How cute!
FYI, I do mine Friday through Sunday (whenever I’m home to do the laundry), so if you and DH ever want a day off to yourselves, I’ll be more then happy to ‘babysit’ the kiddos during laundry weekend 🙂
Adorable! I do laundry nearly every day as well. As for dishes, before I start dinner, I run a sink of hot soapy water & wash dishes from earlier. Then as I’m cooking, I’m putting utensils, etc. into the water. After dinner the plates, etc. They are pretty easy to wash when they’ve soaked a bit.
One of my close friends used to put old socks on her kids hands & spray the socks with pledge. The kids job was to run around dusting the baseboard in their house. It was hysterical.
As a kid we had chores and allowance but when i was 7 my dad showed me how to do my own laundry. After that if I wanted clean clothes I would have to do my own laundry. it wasn’t one of our designated chores that got us allowance. I guess with 7 kids and 2 adults making everyone do their own laundry is the smart thing to do so one person doesn’t go insane. I plan on doing the same thing to my kids when they are old enough to learn how to do it on their own.