As a mom, have you ever looked at your role as one who is trying to work herself out of a job? Well, I do. As soon as I feel my children are ready and able to handle a job, I teach them how.

Laundry falls into this category beautifully!

When I first heard about homeschooling at Christmas time in 1988 from a friend I had known for several years, I remember my first thought was, “How does Debbie ever find time to do the laundry?” The following school year, we started homeschooling. We were a family of five back then and every week I had 11 loads of laundry to do and I remember thinking, “How will I ever find time to do all the laundry?”

No problem. Teach my children how to do their own laundry! This was quite revolutionary for me and I’ve never looked back. For the last 20 years now, I’ve only had 4 loads a week.

At the time, my children were 6, 8, and 11–first grade, third grade, and seventh grade. Laundry day consisted of them sorting their clothes, washing each load, folding them as they came out of the dryer, then putting them all away in drawers and the closet and returning the laundry basket to the laundry room by bedtime that evening.

Each was assigned a particular day of the week to wash their dirty clothes. If you were not able to accomplish this on your specific day, and it had to be for a very good reason, you would have to either wait until next week when your day came around, or you could do it on another person’s day, after they were done with their laundry.

I’ve taught them how to treat stains. I’ve even given each of them a laundry stick to keep in their bedroom so they can treat any stain before it goes into their hamper.

Consider buying each of them their own laundry basket. I did this for the two youngest and they even decorated them with stickers and magic markers. Seven years later, they still have some of the markings from back then. This helps to give them a feeling of ownership and responsibility for their own stuff.

Because the youngest of the three oldest children started doing his own laundry at the age of 6, we had the oldest of our two youngest kids start then, too. (We fondly identify our children as the “first batch” and “second batch” of children. There’s a story here I will save for later.)

It was about six month later when the youngest requested she be allowed to start doing her own laundry like big brother. After warnings such as, “Once you start, there’s no turning back,” I proceeded to teach her as well. While I would have to come help get her clothes out of the bottom of the washing machine, she learned quite quickly. Hurrah! I made it through childhood laundry! It only took me 23 years!

Now, let me warn you. There will be times when you will have to look at wrinkled clothing on your children or there’s stains here and there. You just have to decide if you’re willing to pay the price.

Now, if you have children you believe would never do their laundry, then as a parent, it’s your job to inflict penalties. Don’t let them play outside or on the computer until they’re done. Do what it takes to make it happen. It’s worth it!

And you know, one of the best things about teaching my own children to do their own laundry has been that for the last 23 years, I never have to answer the question, “Mom, do you know if my __________ is clean!”

This freedom can be yours as well whenever you’re ready to take the plunge.