| I had no idea how many parents don't teach their | | | | own homes, and this stuff won't just come through |
| children the most basic household chores. I'm at my | | | | osmosis. |
| son's soccer tournament, a place where there is so | | | | How hard is doing laundry? You only need to show |
| much downtime that his teammates' parents become | | | | them how to separate out clothes the way you like to, |
| best temporary friends rather quickly. These are all | | | | find the appropriate settings, turn on the water and |
| terrific people....well educated, hard working, loving | | | | pour in the soap. There are many advantages to |
| parents. Yet, when we got into the discussion of our | | | | having your children helping out with the laundry....not |
| kids doing their own laundry, most admitted that their 15 | | | | only will it be an important lifelong skill, but when they |
| and 16 year olds were clueless in this area. | | | | become teenagers who insist that their "perfect" jeans |
| That was surprising to me. Kids can and should learn | | | | or special new t-shirt mustn't shrink, they can take |
| how to do basic chores, including the laundry, making | | | | responsibility for hanging it up instead of throwing it in |
| their beds, setting the table, taking out the trash, | | | | the dryer. |
| mowing the lawn, and even cooking an occasional | | | | Parents need to teach their children how to survive on |
| meal. Eventually they will go off to college and get their | | | | their own. |