Why didn’t I teach you this before?May 23rd, 2007 @ 7:01 am
Like most 18 year olds I moved away to go to college. The college I went to was only about an hour and a half away, but it felt like another planet. Again, like most 18 year olds I couldn’t wait to move.
My senior year of high school was fun and amazing and I loved it. I had a boyfriend I liked and had made a gaggle of new friends. I was really into politics, art and music and kept pretty busy with these things. My new friends were into the same things, so we would go out to Denny’s and just discuss topics. I felt smart and challenged. I liked it.
About April of my senior year I started to get antsy. I was so sick of seeing my dad every place I went. He was my teacher at school, my teacher at church, and my teacher at home. As much as I loved my dad, I was sick of him being there all the damn time. I knew it was time to move on. I fully appreciated that I was growing up and that life would never be the same for me.
I remember the night before I moved away from home and into my new dorm room. I had packed up all my things, including the new kitchen and bathroom wares I’d received for my birthday back in May. My desk was packed. My clothes were packed. I pretty much packed up all my earthly belongings. As if I wasn’t going to be back home the following weekend (and every weekend after that).
My mom came into my bedroom while I was packing the last of my things. She told me to come to the basement with her. I was bugged that she was interrupting me and my very important packing tasks. She said it would only take a minute and that I’d thank her later.
We walked down into the basement and into the laundry room together. There, in the middle of the room, was a laundry basket, full of my sibling’s dirty clothes.
“Since you’re moving out on your own, I’m going to teach you how to do laundry. First thing you need to do is separate the clothes into piles.”
“It can’t be that hard, right?”
“It’s not hard. But pay attention. The most important part is making sure to separate them correctly.”
“Why haven’t you shown me how to do this before?”
“I always figured I paid too much money for clothes for this family, I didn’t want them ruined by some teenager. So I just did all the laundry myself.”
“Good point.”
It took my mom about 30 minutes to impart of all her laundry wisdom on me. She told me her secret of using liquid detergent for all her bright color, cold water washes. She explained why she hung dry most of the clothes and went on to tell me if you get your clothes out of the dryer as soon as they were done, you never have to iron them.
From that day forward I did all of my own laundry. I am not kidding when I say I had never done laundry before then. I made it 18 years without ever separating clothes, or scooping detergent, or even hanging things up to dry. (I had helped my mom fold clothes. But that was it.) From that day forward my mom realized she liked having one less person to do laundry for.
From that day forward my Mom taught my younger siblings to wash their own damn clothes.
And she kicked herself for not teaching us all sooner.
It’s interesting how a simple thing like teaching your child to do laundry can change things so much for the entire family. It’s interesting how learning something new, albeit mundane, changed my own life. It’s interesting how that little thing taught me responsibility and personal pride.
I wonder how long until I can teach Babboo how to do laundry? Heck, I wonder how long until I can teach Babboo how to walk, or ride a bike, or be nice to others?
I can’t wait.
————
After a year of the same boring template I finally upgraded to something a little more colorful and sassy. Sassy, like me. (gag!)
Unfortunately I can’t take any of the credit for the new look. It’s all about Carrisa. So please head over and tell her she’s pretty. And also tell her how sad you are about last night being the last Veronica Mars EVER.
My Sweet Babboo · Blog addiction · Back in the day
Britt
said,
May 23, 2007 at 5:31 pm
I can’t believe you didn’t do your own laundry until you were 18. Wow! I started doing mine when I was five. I’m not kidding. In my family, when you started kindergarten, you got a special gift: your own laundry basket. If my parents were smart, they would have waited a little longer, though, because my sister and I were young and small enough that we could stand in the washer while it spun. All we had to do was jam a screw driver in it so we could leave the door open and it would still spin. We also took tumbles in the dryer. My parents had no clue what we were doing in the laundry room for all those hours
Laurel
said,
May 23, 2007 at 6:00 pm
When I was an early teen, my mom got fed up with my laundry strategy. We had a chute in our house, so the idea is that you throw down dirty clothing continuously. But, I would leave all my clothes strewn about my bedroom until I decided to clean, and then I’d dump a huge quantity of laundry on her. From then on, I did my own laundry!
janet
said,
May 23, 2007 at 6:18 pm
new template’s awesome sassiness? check!
depressed about Veronica and the fact that I missed the last 40 minutes of it? check!
Been doing laundry myself since I was 8 because my parents figured out what your mom figured out when you were 18? check!
(Ugh, now I hate laundry. It’s my most dreaded chore.)
heidikins
said,
May 23, 2007 at 6:35 pm
I don’t ever remember my mom doing our laundry… my older brothers figured out quite a while ago that they could MAKE us do their laundry while my mom was working, and then THEY would get the credit and suckers for being “good boys.” Dirty, tricky boys!
Frema
said,
May 23, 2007 at 7:18 pm
I started doing laundry when I was about twelve and the last sibling, Donna, was born. Only you weren’t allowed to do your own laundry. If you were going to do a load of clothes, it had to be categorized by color, towels, or jeans. No doing just for yourself.
I wonder if your mom did that so you wouldn’t bring home gobs of dirty clothes every weekend?
Also, new template? So fun!
Carrisa
said,
May 23, 2007 at 7:21 pm
I am not the creative genius you make me out to be. I am simply the finder of free templates and the tweaker of headers. But thank you nonetheless for the praise.
And dude… my mom totally did all my laundry till I moved out at 22. I miss that. A lot.
Rachel
said,
May 23, 2007 at 7:23 pm
My mom taught me and my brother when we were 12 or 13. By then we knew how to read (obviously) so we could read the tags and know how to wash what and when to hang to dry, when to put in the dryer, etc.
Chris will get Kaylie and Haley to put their clothes into the washer after I’ve put the detergent in and I’m supervising. But that’s it. Maybe in a few more years they can help more with folding and such, but for now putting them in the washer and into their drawers once they are washed is enough.
Hell, we should be glad they put the dirty ones in the hamper!
Kait
said,
May 23, 2007 at 7:38 pm
It was the last VM ever? Well, it wasn’t like the show could last and last, right? I’ll have to “aquire” this last season, as I’ve been remiss in my watching (don’t get that channel here).
I’ve been doing my own laundry since I was about 16. I think it’s because I bought some fancy underwear and was afraid of what my step-mom would think of it, so I did my own laundry. It worked out.
steen
said,
May 23, 2007 at 7:56 pm
I also never had to do laundry when I lived at home. It wasn’t until after I moved out, into the dorms, stuck with crappy quarter-eating washers and dryers that my mom finally showed me how to streamline my laundry.
Now, I just have to teach the man why lights and darks need to be separated into cold and warm wash…
angela
said,
May 24, 2007 at 12:11 am
Man, what I wouldn’t give for a mother to come do all of my laundry right this very moment.
Courtney
said,
May 24, 2007 at 3:38 am
When I was 12 or so, my mom forgot to remove a lipstick from one of her pockets and ruined a whole load of laundry in the dryer - including some of my stuff.
I was FURIOUS!!! I laid into her with all the pre-teen hatred I could muster. “HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME??!?!?” “What is WRONG with you” “You *RUINED* MY STUFF!!!!” “I hate you!!!!!” and other choice phrases spewed from my mouth.
Let’s just say she was none too pleased with my outburst. I had to do all my own laundry from that moment forward, without so much as a sorting lesson or instructions on why we don’t use bleach on colored clothes.
Christar
said,
May 24, 2007 at 4:56 am
Love the new template! It looks great!
My mom never really taught me how to do laundry. I love my mom, but she’s not so good at doing laundry. She never seperated colors! Luckily enough she seperated the towels. When I started getting really nice, expensive clothes, I told my mom I was doing my own laundry, and I have ever since.
Alyndabear
said,
May 24, 2007 at 11:16 am
They canned Veronica Mars? First Gilmore, now this? WHAT IS WRONG WITH AMERICAN TELEVISION? How are we Aussies meant to cope with such losses? OMGZ.
Okay, rant done. I say you have Babboo well and taught by the time he’s in Kindergarten.
Liza
said,
May 24, 2007 at 1:51 pm
I think I also learned around 11 or 12.
The rule in our house was that you were not allowed to do a load of just your own clothes, you always had to sort anything in the laundry room, and move anything in the process along to the next stage (ie wash to dryer, dryer to basket, full basket upstairs to get folded).
HollowSquirrel
said,
May 24, 2007 at 1:54 pm
I heart the new template. It’s gorgeous!
I didn’t know how to do laundry until right before college, when my parents came home from a weekend away, and my mom FLIPPED OUT because my brother and I hadn’t done any laundry. But why would we– mom was coming back in a few days! She was HOT (and not in a good way), so she schooled us that day. Ouch! I love Britt’s parents idea– a shiny new laundry basket all for yourself! Woot! I’m going to get one for Jojo when he’s 6. Case closed.
Durga
said,
May 24, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Wow that must have been a lot of laundry with a few kid sin the house- Mum are so hard working- sometimes more than they should- delegating things are prolly harder - coz of all the yelling to get then done- that they feel they can just do it all themselves.
I HATE folding laundry. I struggle but my husband is a great help.
Hilary
said,
May 24, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Is Babboo still not walking? Mine won’t either.
I can’t wait to teach my kids to do laundry, sweep, mop, do dishes, etc. etc. etc. It’ll be like having my own little maid, only a heck of a lot more expensive (in the long run).
Love the new header!
Jezer
said,
May 26, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Rob Thomas is a whore.
Is it weird that I really enjoy doing laundry?
SJ
said,
May 28, 2007 at 3:31 am
I love the new template. And I’m so with your Mom on the thought of buying clothes that only need to be dried in the dryer and not ironed!
I can’t remember when I started doing my own laundry….