13 Year Old Boys Are Horrified by Laundry
My older boys (13) and I have had on ongoing-yet-passive laundry battle over the past several years. I wash, dry, and fold the clothes. Then they throw them on the floor. Many's the week that I've found still-folded clothes thrown in with the dirty laundry.
Many's the week that I've done a lot of growling.
More than one of my friends would say that I should have taken action on this problem (beyond growling) long ago. The truth is: I like to do laundry. Getting it all clean and folded just feels good, and it's not a job I have been willing to hand over.
However. I was starting to get really frustrated with the boys. Every single morning I'd walk in to wake them up, and there would be clothes on the floor. Everywhere.
Last week I'd had enough and announced that it was time for them to do their own laundry. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. When laundry day rolled around, I asked the boys to collect everything needing to be washed and I taught them how to separate and then wash the two loads. Again there was a great deal of complaining. But we got through it.
When the first load was dry, I asked the boys to pull out the clothes. I wanted to explain that they could choose whether to fold the clothes or just toss them in the basket but I didn't get very far before the horrified reactions rolled out. "FOLDING????? We have to FOLD too?"
Managing to keep a straight face, I responded that yes, folding was indeed part of the whole laundry scheme. Massive protest ensued. Everyone else's mom did THEIR laundry...having to do laundry so young was an injustice...and so on. I laughed.
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