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.

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Today is my laundry day, and just like every other Monday, I usually have 4 loads–two permanent loads for shirts and pants, one load of darks, and one load of whites. Once a month, I have an extra load because I wash the sheets, too.

Well, today I thought, “I could get some exercising done while doing something I do every week. It’s a thought that has occurred to me every once in a while over the years, but today I gave it some extra attention.

For instance, once I put the sorted laundry into baskets and brought them out of my bathroom to the laundry room, I dumped them on the floor. Normally, I would just pick up the basket and pour the load into my top-loading washer; however, this time, I picked each piece up one at a time by squatting while holding in my tummy muscles.

Now, I didn’t count how many squats it took to put all the pieces in the washer, but I could certainly tell I had done it! I actually felt better after I had done it, too.

Then, I decided to exercise when I folded items coming out of the dryer. I have a front-loading dryer and I usually push up a small step stool, sit on it, and fold the clothes as I take them out. (Here’s a helpful tip for you, too. Fold the clothes as they come out of the dryer. That way, they are already folded when they go into the basket and all you have to do is put them away!)

Well, not today! Instead, I pulled a few items out of the dryer and placed them on the inside of the dryer door. Then I squatted down, with a straight back with tummy muscles contracted, brought the item up to the lid of the washer, which is right next to the dryer. I then folded the item, turned to the side, and squatted down to gently place the item in the basket.

Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you to squeeze your gluteus maximus muscles, too while you are squatting.

While it’s a small thing, it is a step in the right direction and it did make me feel better.

Now, on to the next event–drinking my afternoon cup of coffee. Anybody have any great ideas on how to exercise while enjoying a cup of java?

Well my laundry day exercise consists of chasing my 2-year-old laundry thief as she steals my freshly folded clothes out of the basket and runs away as fast as she can. A freshly folded towel is instantly turned into a cape of some kind and she wraps it around her shoulders or over her head and takes off. That counts, right?

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