How do your kids help with their clean laundry?

[gatorsmom]

Right now we are living in a dinky rental home and I put away all the kids laundry because they are sharing small closets. I need things to be organized a certain way so their closets don't end up with a royal mess. But when we move into our new house they will each have their own room and their own dressers. So, they should be able to help more.

So, I'm particularly wondering what older kids (first grade and over) do to help with their clean laundry. Do they fold it and put it away? Do they put it on hangers and hang it in their closet? Can you just hand them a basket of clean clothes and they fold it, hang it and return the empty basket to you (my dream!)? Is that even possible and if so at what age? Tia!

[crl]

I fold and stack into piles. Ds is nine and he takes his pile and puts it away. He doesn't do a great job, but at least I dont have to do it. None of his stuff is hung really. He also sometime carries other piles to the correct bedroom.

Catherine

[JustMe]

I feel very fortunate in this way. My kids do almost all their laundry independently. Each one of the 3 of us has our own basket in our rooms. The kids bring down their basket, put in in the laundry machine, and when that's done put in in the dryer. We don't do any sorting. I keep an eye on what they are wearing during the week and look out for anything that might run or shouldn't be dried (they don't really have much that falls into that category. Dd is able to fold all of her laundry independently (not perfect, but good enough). Ds can't do his shirts, but does everything else. I either do his shirts or ask dd to help him. Ds sometimes "helps" dd too by doing her pants which are the easiest thing for him. Oh, I should say everything except dd's dresses goes in their dresser drawers, so even the pants just get folded.

[SkyrMommy]

DD is starting to help me now, she matches her socks and then I fold them together and it's her job to put them in the sock bin. Undies are also her job, she likes to make them into piles in the drawer depending on character... Princess, Tinkerbell, etc. She's also getting me hangers from the lower rack in the closet as I fold on her dresser, but I do all the major folding, hanging and bigger tiems in drawers. Eventually we'll add more to the mix.

[cono0507]

I fold it and lay it out in piles on my bed. My kindergartener and second grader then put their folded clothes where they belong in their dressers.

[Jacksmommy2b]

The 3 y/o takes his prefolded, presorted piles and puts them in his dresser. (usually the right ones:)
I do all of his hanging stuff.

The 6 y/o will sort his prefolded laundry and puts them in his dresser. He does his own hanging.

Ds1 likes to fold, especially towels and washcloths, but then Ds2 wants to 'help' and it ends up as more work for me in the long run.

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[KrisM]

I fold it all and stick it on their beds in piles. Each kids puts it away. DS2 only has a dresser. DS1 and DD both hang things in their closets. I think I will pick up 3 smaller baskets to put their things in so it's easier to get to their rooms.

[Tanya]

My kids each have their own rooms, closets and chest of drawers. The two oldest are in the lower level, laundry is on main floor (ranch).

Older girls (9 and 6) have a shared hamper that they carry up when full or when they are starting to run low on something (underwear for example). They dump in laundry room and I wash/dry it. Then they each have a laundry basket. I will usually fold and sort the laundry for them both and put it in their baskets. I don't do the 9 year old's socks. She has to do that. I sometimes won't fold her underwear too...just depends on my mood. I put the clothes that need to be hung up over the edge of the basket. Baskets go in their rooms and they have to put everything away. 6 year old has trouble with hanging stuff up, so I sometimes help or if the 9 year old is in trouble, that is one of her punishments...to hang her sister's stuff up. I might try putting hangers on the bed and have her put her clothes on hangers and then I'll hang up. I don't know. It's all new since we just moved here last month.
The twins are 2. Obviously, I do most of it, but they totally enjoy it when I hand them a pile of folded pj's and tell them to put them in their pj drawers. I can do it with folded socks too. The laundry room is outside of their bedrooms, so it's not too far of a walk for a big disaster to happen. Ha ha.

[MamaMolly]

I fold it and they deliver it to the rooms. Folded clothes go in their dressers, one type of clothes per drawer like undies, socks, night clothes, then folded outfits together in the other drawers. Lula puts hers away but Dolly needs supervision.

We (the girls and I) share a massive walk in closet so I lay out all our hanging clothes, put them on a pulled out drawer of the built in dresser (told you it was massive!!). Then they hand me hangers, I put the dresses on and they hang them up. They each have a low rack, my shirts and tops go on the racks above. It works really, really well. In my dream home I'd have one big closet and include DH's clothes too. It is so much easier to put everything away in a central location!

[new_mommy25]

I fold and leave on my bed. Kids put away. Each has their own chest of drawers and everything has a "correct spot," so it's easy for them. I still hang their clothes be aide they do it sloppy and it's irking to me. I do try to make the kids help with folding laundry. They're good with towels, socks, and underwear but everything else is kind of a mess and it's often easier and faster for me to do it.

[maestramommy]

My 1st grader can fold laundry but I do it most of the time because I do it when they are in bed. What I DO do is have them all put it away. They have their own drawers and closet spaces.

[hillview]

kids used to put away folded laundry on their own.

I LOVE the idea of everyone doing their own load. I may adopt that!

[AngelaS]

I have a shelf above my washer and dryer and there is a basket for each child there. I wash, fold and sort into the appropriate baskets. Then the girls have to put away their clothes and return the basket. Anything that I dry on a hanger, I leave on the hanger and that has to be taken to their closets.

[egoldber]

Older DD folds and puts away her own laundry.

Younger DD folds with my help and puts away with my help.

[wendibird22]

DD1 who is 5yo folds (her way) and puts away into her dresser. I don't hang up anything of hers because a)I'd have to do it and b)she isn't tall enough to get things down herself in order to get ready for school. My 3yo can also put away clothes once folded.

[elephantmeg]

with great work I can get DS (1st grade) to fold his clothes and if I stand over him he puts them away. I think he has ADHD and it is very hard for him to stay on task. DD does fold and put away her clothes most of the time-but again I fold with them and then help them sort their clothes to put away. DS' method involves stuffing clothes any old way into drawers....

[emily]

I fold and hang. DD (4.5) has been putting away her clothes for about a year now. She also helps me fold and hang. DS (3) in the past few months has also started to put away his clothes. Sometimes it gets un-folded in the process but at least he puts them in the right drawer.

[brittone2]

I fold; DS1 and DD put everything away. My 2.5 yo puts away underwear and socks by himself. By about 4 yo, I would leave DD with a few hangers and she put away maybe 2-3 things on hangers and I did the rest (we hang her playdresses, etc.). I gradually upped her responsibility for hanging and now she hangs all of her nicer clothes and has been for probably a year and a half?

I fold and put in piles on the dining room table and then they take it upstairs the same day. If DD's pile is particularly huge, I split it with her or give her a bin to put it in to make it easier to carry, since we don't really use laundry baskets that often. I will give DS2 2-3 shirts or something like that to carry and I carry the rest for him.

DS1 and DD fold cloth napkins and dishtowels (we use a lot since we rarely use papertowels or paper napkins). DS2 is starting to help with napkins and doing quite well with it.

[g-mama]

Not at all! :bag But it sounds like that needs to change.

[lalasmama]

DD is nearly 9 now. She puts away the laundry SO or I have washed and folded. I should start letting her fold, but last time we tried, she refused to listen how to do it, and would just wad it into a ball. Drives me batty, so I will continue folding! Oh, she also gets everyone's clothes to washer for us.

[ladysoapmaker]

DS#1 (age16) does his own laundry so DS#2 doesn't steal his clothes. He's been doing his own for about 2 or 3 years now.

DS#2 (age 12) know how to do the laundry (I do have a "cheat sheet" with instructions by the washer). Sometimes he'll do his own or help with the rest of the houses. He and DD#1 (age9) help fold.

DD#2 (age4) tries to help fold but she's more of a hinderance then a help right now.

I have the kids put their clean and folded laundry into their dressers by drawer (underwear & socks, shirts, dresses, skirts/pants/shorts). DD#2 gets help or she just leaves it on the floor in front of her dresser.

They are to put their clothes into the hamper each night and DS#2 is suppose to take his hamper to the laundry room when it's full. Socks go into a lingere bag so that it's easy to pair socks after washing.

It's not a perfect system they still need reminded occasionally and DH & I generally fold the laundry otherwise it takes a week for it all to get folded. (and it's folded at the dining room table so it has to be cleared before dinner).

Jen

[doberbrat]

Absolutely! I went away to college not knowing to do laundry and I dont think my parents did me any favors.

My girls sort the clean laundry into hampers by person. DH & I mostly fold but dd2 likes to 'fold' her laundry as well. Each girl puts away their own laundry.

I do have to say, I'm not particularily fussy about how stuff gets folded or put away. So it makes it easier when dd2 insists on folding her own laundry :thumbsup:

[Simon]

On the clean end of things, Ds1 (1st grade) is responsible for putting away his own laundry (I place it folded on his bed or in the basket) and sometimes helping fold. If he's with me while I'm folding, I also have him put Ds2's laundry into the dresser.

Ds1 either is such a careful folder (read: slow) or else sloppy that I prefer to fold myself but I try to let him do it for practice. He is capable of doing it well but often I am the one in a rush.

On the dirty end, he is supposed to put his dirty laundry down the chute and although he tries it takes a lot of reminders. Honestly, I would have Ds1 do his own washing/transfer to dryer but we have a top loader and he is really far too short to make that practical. Plus, the laundry is in an area of the home that we don't usually let the boys go into. By 5th grade, I'd have no problem handing over responsibility.

[kijip]

T helps load and unload the washer and dryer. He sorts the socks. He practices folding but lacks the motor skills to do so neatly. I usually fold most of the clothes while he works on the small towels. He puts all of his and his brother's clothes away but we are going to start having F do his own putting away soon. The boys each have like 2 things hanging in the closet which rarely get worn so that's not part of our regular laundry routine. They share a room and a big dresser where they each get 4 drawers. I have the inside of the drawers labeled with name and item. They don't have very many clothes so it's not a very big job.

[123LuckyMom]

DS is 4. He helps me load and unload the dryer. I fold and hang. He puts folded clothes away in his dresser. When he's a bit older (and taller), he'll do the hanging stuff, too.

[jerseygirl07067]

My 3rd and 2nd grader do. DH just got a new job (finally), but it is 2 hours away so I am full time working single mom during the week. I explained to my 2 girls they would have to help me out with the laundry. I simply do not have the time to do that along with all of the other things that they can't do, like cook dinner, take out the heavy recycle bins to the curb, grocery shop, etc.

I put the laundry basket in the family room and tell them it's a race to see who gets done first. They like that. Done in 10 mins. They share a closet too and I have them organize their shirts by color. I will say my 3rd grader who is 9 does it well, my 2nd grader tends to shove things in at times, so I have her redo it. But she has a different personality and constantly needs to be directed to stay on task.

My 3 y/o DD even helps put them on hangers too. She needs help without about 25% of the clothes and I still hang them up. It's become a family project and much more easily done with 3 helpers!

[citymama]

Wow, I'm impressed/inspired! DD doesn't do anything for her own laundry - she's almost 7. But - she has a tiny closet with a very precariously hung baby closet organizer we've used since her birth. She needs a dresser!

She does, however, fold napkins and kitchen towels with me - we go through about a dozen a day, so there's a lot to fold.

[queenmama]

Uh oh. I'm raising a mama's boy. My DIL will hate me one day for this!

I've been super disorganized but now that DD has more of a routine to her day I can correct that. Maybe this year (he turns 13) will be the year he learns how to do his laundry.

Lara