by Kim Sharpe

Created on: January 26, 2008

I'm kind of on the fence about this debate. I think that when a child is old enough, say twelve on up, then they can wash their own clothes on occasion. Why not? The washing machine is a fairly easy machine in todays day and age. You put the soap in. Pick a setting which are all self explanatory and then start it. When the clothes are done you move them to the dryer where you also pick a time to dry your clothes or a cycle to use. I think that any child who is twelve and above can handle such a feat. And as they enter more into their teenage years this needs to be encouraged because at some point your teenager will live on his or her own and you want to make sure they can at least do the most basic of chores for themselves.

But I do not believe that a child should iron. Ironing is dangerous. Your child can seriously burn him or herself. They get so hot. I've even burnt myself ironing before. Plus its very easy to destroy your clothes by burning them. And there is a danger of knocking the iron down and burning the carpet or vinyl. And then there is also the huge danger of your child ironing and then forgetting to turn off the iron. They leave it sitting there and it could get knocked over by a pet or a younger child and a fire could erupt or the younger child or animal could also get seriously burnt. They are just far too dangerous to trust in the hands of a child.

So you see why I'm on the fence about some of this. Half of it I feel a child could handle learning and would benefit from knowing and then the other half of the debate makes me think that its too dangerous.

But no matter what, you need to always supervise your child. You can offer encouragement and even help out a bit. The best way to teach our children is to do it together. Make it fun from the start. Share the task. Its always better when two do something and things get done a lot quicker that way, too. Sometimes its nice just to have your child there when you are doing the chores so they learn from watching. One of my most pleasant memories is watching my mom iron the sheets and my Dads shirts and pants. I loved the smell of the fresh clean laundry and the iron. I loved watching her do it and chatting with her while she did. Its a memory that I will never forget. It was a time of sharing. Even though I wasn't helping, I still loved being there with her.

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