“This post was sponsored by P&G as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. I received complimentary products to facilitate my review.”
Summer vacation has officially begun, which means no breaks from the children, and more messes throughout the day. When school is in session I at least have a few hours a day where I can enjoy a clean house. I’ve decided it will be one long summer if I’m left to do all the cleaning and laundry myself. I’m sure I’m not the only one in this boat, so I thought I’d show you my tips for how to teach kids to do laundry.
First of all, you need some great products to help do the cleaning. I hate being in the cleaning mood, or on the verge of no clean clothes to wear, and find we’re all out of product! So, I stock up on my favorite P&G cleaning products at Costco. For laundry, my go-tos are Tide Pods (no mess or measuring for the kids), and Downy Unstopables. I’ve found it really helps my kids to have all the products they need, in one basket, at a level they can easily reach. Then I hand the Swiffer Wet Jet over to the kids, to mop up any debris from dryer lint.
*Be sure to keep these products out of reach of younger children who could mistake them for candy.
Now for the steps to teach your kids to do the laundry:
- Sort clothes by color and/or type. During the sorting process, I recommend also teaching the kids to turn clothes right side out, to ensure a proper cleaning. For a certain child, this step also means ridding the pockets of candy wrappers! If you have delicates in your laundry, point these out to the kids, and either teach them how to wash it at this point, or pull it out for you to do later. I choose not to purchase delicates for my children, and leave my laundry to hubby and me.
- Learn about the machine’s settings. I teach my kids to wash darks on cold, and lights on warm. I only use hot for bedding. Specify settings for towels too.
3. Time for the detergent and fabric softener! If using Tide Pods, teach the kids about putting the pods in the drum of the machine before adding clothing. Use 1-3 pods, depending on load size. Liquid detergent should be added to the designated compartment on your machine. After adding clothing, pour proper amount of Downy Unstopables into the load, for fresh smelling laundry.
4. After the wash is complete, pull out non-dryer safe clothing before moving to the dryer. Teach about hang drying, or laying certain types of items flat to dry. Then it’s time to run the laundry through the dryer on the proper settings.
5. Last, it’s time to fold the laundry. If you care how things are folded, you best teach the kids how you like it down. I make sure all of the kids know how to put their laundry away in their drawers.
Because my laundry room also shares the kids’ bathroom, I have the kids use the Swiffer Wet Jet to clean the bathroom floor (and rest of the house while they are at it), to clean up dryer lint debris, and any other spillage they might find.
With the kids home for summer, you might as well put them to work!
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