by Robin Landry

Created on: September 07, 2008   Last Updated: March 23, 2009

Children should definitely be taught to wash and iron, cook, plan meals, do the shopping and make simple household repairs. Skills like these are the keys to self-reliance which can translate into both freedom and power in later life.

Even in today's business casual workplaces, most employers still expect a clean and well put together appearance, especially when a prospective employee arrives for an interview. It would be a shame for a young person who has never learned to wash and iron to lose out on an important job opportunity for no other reason than having shown up for an interview in dirty or wrinkled clothing.

Sending laundry out to be done professionally is a luxury that young people starting out simply cannot afford. But with proper supervision I believe that children as young as twelve can be taught to be responsible for washing and ironing their own clothing and to continue those early habits into their adult lives.

Like teaching a child any household chore, it is important to start small, with age appropriate tasks. When I was a little girl my grandfather worked as the gardener at the home of a local doctor and his family. The doctor's wife would send her family's clean laundry home with my grandfather each day and my grandmother would iron it and send it back with my grandfather, expertly starched and pressed the following day.

I can remember watching with fascination as my grandmother deftly starched and ironed Dr. K's white dress shirts which had his initials monogrammed on his cuffs and the traditional white coats that he wore daily in his medical practice. There was also the white tennis gear of older son Brent, the wildly patterned shirts of younger son, Barry and lots of pretty blouses with Peter Pan collars favored by college aged daughters, Leslie and Gail. Aside from one brief encounter with Mrs. K and a brief glimpse of young Barry, I never had the opportunity to meet this family, but I almost felt that I knew them through their clothing.

One day my grandmother noticed my deep fascination with the process and said to me, "Would you like to do the handkerchiefs?" I should mention that this all occurred in the late 1960's when well groomed men and boys still carried cotton handkerchiefs on a daily basis and Dr. K and his two sons were no exceptions. These squares of cloth represented the ideal practice pieces for a child learning to iron. I believe that I was probably six or seven at the time.

Under my grandmother's watchful eye I learned about

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>