Children Helping with Laundry

By Mei Yee

Having your children help to do laundry .. honestly, sometimes I sigh at this. I have taught them what is appropriate for their ages, but they still fight me on doing the laundry.

How young is too young to teach them? Hmm...

Personally I would say around age five is a good age to start. I have them help with things like; sorting clothes to put into the washer, carrying the basket, and even loading the washer.

My youngest has always been one to want to help, so she has been helping me do these things since age three, where my oldest still fights with me to do these things. Guess it is supposed to be some kind of balance that way.

Also, around age five is a good age to get them used to fold clothes. Or them “helping” and you re-folding them. Or them helping you put the clothes on hangers. Then let them help you put them away.

Around eight or nine, with your help, show them how to measure out the laundry soap and then let them dump it in. (I suggest you helping them pour it to avoid them pouring too much, as that has happened to us before.)

This would be a good time to show them how to load the dryer. Then maybe after a few times of you helping them, this could be something you could just send them to do.

We currently don’t have a dryer, so the girls help me put the clothes on the drying rack. Or I split this chore, my oldest goes to get the clothes from the washer, and my youngest helps me load the rack.

With things like this, I try to make it a group effort to get them to understand that we all live here and we should all help each other out.