I’ll confess, I still use the sniff test on occasion. Just about every college kid knows what that is, and every guy, regardless of age, relies on the sniff test.  Does this smell dirty?  If yes, it might make it to the laundry.  If no, add it back to the clean clothes.While there are seasons when this approach may be more or less appropriate, in the end, at some point, everyone needs to know how to wash clothes.  And it isn’t just a girl chore.

Your sons need to know how to do laundry.  If they head off to college at some point, what’s the plan? Are they going to come home every week for mom to wash their clothes?

If your son lives on his own for any length of time, pre-college or post-college, he will need clean clothes.

Here is the simple solution for all the possible scenarios: teach your kids that clean clothes are important AND how to reach that end result.

It’s not a complicated process, and a child as young as 10 can handle this on their own. Why, Mom, do you want to be washing your child’s laundry long past the time when s/he can do it for himself?  We are not raising children, but we are raising future men and women.  Cleaning one’s own clothes is one of those needed skills for their inevitable adulthood.  Help them, do them a favor, by training them early.

There are many philosophies over laundry, and however you do it in your house is probably how you will want to teach your kids.

Sort or no sort?

Bleach or no bleach?

Store bought detergent or homemade?

What brand of store bought?

Hot or Cold water?

Despite what some prior generations believed, there is no one single right way to do laundry, with every other way being wrong.  And you would do well to not get offended if, after learning from you, your child chooses to think for himself and takes a slightly different approach.  He may opt for an “environmentally friendly” laundry brand out of concern for the environment.  He may never sort his laundry despite you being a staunch proponent for the necessity of sorting.

Newsflash: our kids are not mini-me’s.  They are their own people with their own thoughts, ideas and preferences.  When your child leaves home, they will most certainly do laundry how he wants; don’t create unneeded strife by creating this false dichotomy of your way = right way and every other way is wrong. I’ve been on the receiving end of that approach to laundry and cleaning, and nothing good comes from it.

Teach them the basics.  Explain the options. Let them know there are various detergents to choose from and explain why you use what you use.  Explain the benefits of hot water vs. cold water, and vice versa. Make sure they understand how much of an energy drain the dryer is; that it is one of the highest users of electricity of all the appliances…and that is why we don’t restart the cycle simple because we are too lazy in a particular moment to take the clothes out of the dryer.

Let them browse the laundry section of whatever store you frequent to see the different brands and prices.

In my household growing up we used Tide.  That was it; Tide was the brand.  When I got to college and started footing my own bills, I realized that Purex worked just fine and was far less expensive. Now a mother myself, I have gone back to using Tide, and/or making my own detergent.  But for a season when the budget was tight, Purex did the job.

Teach your child why sorting is helpful. For those who use bleach on their whites, not sorting is disastrous. In fact, it was one such incident in my early teen years that left my favorite sweatshirt bleached that propelled me to take over my own laundry.  From around the age of 13 onward, I always did my own laundry, terrified that my mom would accidently bleach another favorite clothing item. To this day I still don’t know if the bleaching was indeed an accident, or strategic to compel me to step up on this.  Hmm.

Either way, I’m the better for it.  I went to college fully confident in how to do laundry, whereas some of my classmates were doing laundry for the first time in their lives.

Your child will have other adjustments to make and things to learn, don’t add laundry to the list of things that he has to figure out after he gets onto campus.

Do him a favor, and teach him how to do laundry. Pass this responsibility over to him. Allow him the task to keep a schedule to ensure that his favorite shirt is ready for Friday night.  Yes, I’m sure he will fall behind from time to time, pull a shirt out of the dirty pile and do the sniff test, concluding it’s “not too bad,” much to your horror.  Short of attending a formal event, let him.  He will in a few years anyway, allow him to experience the cause-effect relationship between staying on top of laundry needs and falling behind.

After all, that is part of life and you are seeking to prepare him for life, right?

At the same time, teach your child that there is a time when the sniff test may be acceptable, but other times when they are to put on their very best.  Teach your child how to dress for a job interview. How to dress for a celebration dinner of whatever sort. Teach them that flipflops and shorts are not appropriate attire in every circumstance, and there are times when a collar shirt is required.

Teach your boys how to tie a tie.  Teach your girls as well. As a single mom to 4 kids, two of whom are boys, I’m the one who ties my boys ties right now.  As they get older, they will take that over, but for now, my 7 year old and my 5 year old rely on me to do that for them. I am so thankful that my dad taught me how to tie a tie when I was young.

Teach your child that a great outfit paired with ratty, torn shoes defeats the purpose. For both boys and girls, the shoes can make or break the outfit. Fancy is not required, but can be fun. But clean and scuff free are necessary. One does not wear sneakers to a black tie affair, nor dress shoes that look like they were dragged across the parking lot.

Teach your child that, regardless of right or wrong, they will often be judged first based on their appearance.  It is the first thing we notice about a person, and a teen dressed in a clean, wrinkle free polo with khaki pants and shoes gives off a vastly different aura than that same teen in a stained, greasy shirt with ripped jeans and shoes that are falling apart.

There may be a time and a place for either outfit.  If you are heading to paint a building, the latter is more appropriate than the former. But when entering social situations; interviews, visiting potential colleges, meeting professional people for the first time, their choice of dress will set a tone and choosing the wrong tone may be difficult to overcome.

We are raising our children to be future men and women. Let’s not neglect to instruct them in this aspect of life.  Teach them…clean clothes are important.