How To Get Your Kids Started With Laundry
EPISODE 4
by Dianne Jimenez
This article takes 10 minutes to read
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The laundry was always the last thing being done: either in the wee hours of the morning or right before bed.
You’ll have to excuse my voice today as I’m fighting a cold. But you won’t have to suffer for too long because the episode you’re about to listen to, is an edited version of my YT video I released back in April 2020.
I decided to turn this video into a podcast episode because it’s SO relevant and I believe that we, as parents, and especially because this is why this podcast was created – can use all the tips and tricks we can get to help our home-life be more organized and find a way to get our kids involved in the whole process too… all the while teaching them valuable life skills.
As you listen in, you’ll probably hear some background noise from the kids or trucks passing by. It was garbage day after al. As for the kids… Well, they just come with the territory when working from home!
So without further ado, I hope you enjoy How To Get Your Kids Started With Laundry. I’ll reference what I talk about in the episode, in the show notes along with a link to the actual YT video. Enjoy!
***
Welcome!
Hey guy, thank you so much for joining me! So today, I’m going to talk to you about laundry. The reason why I’m bringing this up now it’s because it’s a BEAST!
When everything was normal, the laundry was always pulling up – right? If this was happening to you, because it was definitely happening to me. The laundry was always the last thing being done: either in the wee hours of the morning or right before bed. Or, actually getting your laundry from basket to basket. So if it was clean laundry, you’re just picking it out from there.
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Now that we’re in quarantine life and COVID life, I’m not sure where you guys are at but at our house there’s no laundry!
There’s no pile-up here because things are getting done more and more. I feel like I’m more on top of things because now, I have little helpers to help me. And,
it’s also teaching them a very important life skill when they become adults and living on their own.
I’m hoping that this is going to help you, in case your kids or your partner isn’t into the whole laundry bit and it all falls on you. So I want to help you out, my dear friend: Spread the joy of laundry. Or, spread the REALITY of what laundry is about! It’s not that bad and it’s not that big of a deal. And with some help, it can actually become a very enjoyable process! Can you believe it? Laundry enjoyable? Yes. It can be.
So by involving the kids at ANY TIME of this process, from toddlers to teens who aren’t sure how to go about it, plug them in into these little mini steps. And slowly, as they get used to it, add a little bit more to their responsibilities. It’s going to serve them so well in the long run and for you especially. We’re teaching our kids to become adults. So teaching this life skill? It’s happening right now!
find out how families with 3+ kids tackle the beast: laundry!
WHERE DO DIRTY CLOTHES GATHER?
First off, we have hampers here. Not sure how many you guys have, but we minimize our 2 just two hampers. I’m not talking about the big hampers with all the multiple separations. But just small IKEA kids’ hampers. Once those get filled, more less, they get dumped into the wash they go through the cycle and then get dried right away. So anytime they get filled up, the cycle starts.
So what you can do with small kids, and this is what I started with, is to go around the house and dump all the dirty laundry in a basket. Get your older kid to bring it downstairs and then you can sort them out.
I’m not sure how it is at your house, but at our house we try to keep things super simple. I don’t have a lot of whites and don’t have a lot of delicates. So that already cuts my laundry into 3 main piles: Sheets, Towels and everything else! You’re probably cringing right now with the fact that I mix my jeans, socks and underwear together…!
I like to keep things simple.
I’m 1 adult female and for me, I don’t own a lot of delicate clothing. Also, we don’t have a lot of whites for some reason. If you have kids – whites are a BIG NO! We do have a lot of colors though. And sometimes I do separate the colorful clothes with the darker clothes just because we have a lot of dark clothes.
If you want to incorporate your children, start with them sorting out the different piles of laundry. And that’s 1 task for the young kids or even the older kids.
My Secret Sauce for setting the kids up for success
TIME TO WASH
Next, start the load. Now this is the fun part – especially for the small ones because they like pressing the buttons, or put the soap pod or the dryer sheet in. This is great. Get them involved!
It might be a little annoying to have to lift them up and press all the buttons, etc. It’s OK! If they don’t know how to read you just have to start having them memorize what to do next. Just know that this is all registering in their head and this is great. Because it’s going to help you in the long run.
For instance, my 9 year-old knows how to read and he’s been doing this since we’ve been in quarantine. It’s great! When he sees the hampers filled, he’ll go ahead and start the wash beginning to end and we’ll all fold it together. Or, he’ll fold with his younger siblings.
DRYER’S DONE!
So once the load is done, it’s still in the wash? It’s time to dry. This can also be the fun part for kids. Or if they really don’t like doing laundry and complain that it sucks, well have them do this 1 small task of switching the wet clothes into the dryer and not to forget to put it in the dryer sheet (or whatever you use at your house).
But just the littlest, tiniest bit is already incorporating them into the whole laundry process.
3 things to establish now before losing your s#!t later on (during the school year)
YOUR INVOLVEMENT
Now there’s going to be a lot of involvement from us parents at the beginning, not just the first few days. But for a period of time where the kids are first introduced to the new skill.
So give yourself some time and grace here. Then, slowly step back a little, let them try things and explore. Even ask them questions to prompt them like:
- Where does this sock go?
- What button would you press next?
- Where are the dryer sheets?
Simple questions like that will help get them thinking and will help down the road.
FOLDING CLOTHES WITH KIDS
Once the dryer is done, have 1 kid there to empty out the dryer. And don’t forget to teach them about the lint drawer (something many people often forget to do).
Then, bring the basket to the room where the folding will happen. In many houses, this could be the parents’ bed because there’s a lot of space.
One good reason to put the laundry here is so that it gets done: you can’t go to sleep unless all the laundry’s folded and put away!
This is what we did initially. But since I value sleeping and the laundry was never ending, I moved the folding area to the living room – or anywhere OTHER than my bed!
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MAKE-YOUR-LIFE-EASIER TIP TO DO BEFORE FOLDING
Something I started incorporating last year was sorting clean laundry. You know when you have your mix of laundry items in a basket: socks, underwear tops and bottoms? Well that’s how we sort them out now: in 4 piles. I posted a behind-the-scenes video of how we do it at home and how we sort the laundry in 4 piles:
- Tops
- Bottoms
- Underwear and
- Socks
This is where the children, regardless of age, can start: by making the piles. And the reason why we do the piles is because it’s like addressing something in an assembly-line style. You’re working on 1 task only so you’re super efficient, you have 1 job to do, you have 1 thing to think about and you’re fast.
And this is what we want to accomplish: Get the laundry done fast and properly.
So if we have 4 different piles and we want to move quickly, assign each person (1, 2 or 4 people) a pile to do for that week, that month, etc.
Within the near future, everyone will know how to fold that piece of clothing like a champ! And then what do we do to switch things up? We rotate piles. If 1 person was doing pants 1 time, now, they’re folding tops. And the person doing tops now folding the underwear, etc. So by the 4th rotation EVERYONE will be an expert or a champion at folding laundry and… putting them away! (which I’ll come back to in a second).
The folding part is the long part and it shouldn’t have to be all on you to have to do this late at night.
Get the kids involved, it takes 20 minutes.
Once this whole thing’s a well-oiled machine, our laundry folding session of a basket or 2 is literally 20 minutes. It’s pretty amazing!
SORT WHILE YOU FOLD
You can step it up ANOTHER notch and that would be to sort as you’re folding. For each section (tops, bottoms, underwear, etc.) that you’re folding, you’re sorting by person. For instance, we’re 5 in the family and if I’m folding tops, there will be 5 piles of tops for each person. So that at the end, when we’re all done folding each person is responsible for picking up what belongs to them – kind of like when you’re at the groceries and it’s great!
Stay on track with laundry & tips to getting the kids involved
SPACE SAVING FOLDING TECHNIQUE
At our house, we also fold the Marie Kondo technique or vertical folding. For over a year now, it’s how we’ve been folding our clothes and it’s fantastic! To be honest, it’s the best way for us and for many people too, a big space saver. Other benefits of folding this way are: it’s a time saver, a space saver, and it’s faster for them to get dressed in the mornings. Because now, they know exactly what they’re looking for as far as colors or style. This giving them more independence: They can just quickly pick and go.
As a result this folding technique really cut our time in the morning for getting dressed and putting laundry away when they’re clean.
In addition folding has become a group activity initially. The reason being is because you’re going to be FULLY involved in the beginning and that’s OK! Eventually and over time, you’ll be able to step back a little bit and allow the kids to make mistakes.
It’s not about perfection, it’s about progress.
If they’re folding it and just rolling it up, you can tweak it here and there but try concentrating on 1 specific thing like flattening it out first and have them concentrate on that.
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So that’s what this is, in a nutshell–ish! If you want more, I did a video that’s a life-hack on how to fold the Marie Kondo way. It’s super simple, super cheap and it’s fun! It’ll help to get the kids more on the folding technique a little faster and get the idea of it. I hope you guys check it out too!
Let me know if there’s anything else and please share if you see anyone who would like to know more, get inspiration or who needs their children or their partners to learn how to get involved. It’s (laundry) a big task but it doesn’t have to be. Ok? It doesn’t have to be. You can do this and so can they!
I hope you guys got some insight and some inspiration from this. That’s it for now, take care. I’ll see you next week!
Referenced in this episode
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