Saturday, April 9, 2011

Operation Do Your Own Stinkin' Laundry

This summer, my daughter, who will be 13, is going to a sleepaway program where the attendees have to do their own laundry. So rather than wait and let her figure it out (visions of overflowing washing machines and shrunken clothes and weeping child calling long distance dancing in my head), I decided to teach her the fine art of washing, drying, and folding clothes now.

And I am happy to say that we have now completed Phase One of Operation Do Your Own Stinkin' Laundry (learning how to use the washing machine and dryer) and are about to enter Phase Two, folding.

I was tempted to just make her watch this classic YouTube video titled "Japanese way of folding t-shirts!"



But I fear that would doom us to failure -- and a fear of folding.

Then I found this video explaining the Japanese t-shirt folding method in English (which I am unable to embed in this blog post), to which my reaction was "You have got to be effing kidding." (On the plus side, while looking at the video I found this related video on How to Rick Roll Somebody.)

There goes the buzzer on the dryer, people! Time for folding boot camp. Wish us luck!

UPDATED: I am happy to report that Phase Two of Operation Do Your Own Stinkin' Laundry: You Gotta Know When to Fold 'Em went off without a hitch (though I am taking J-THREE-O's word on this). Next up: Operation Change Your Own Gosh Darn Toilet Paper Roll.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't have a Tiger Mom. Could never do that!

Stick to dumping clothes on the floor.

It is a system-not a pretty one, but works.

larissa said...

You a wise woman
There's a book lurking in this
"Operation: ________"

Dave S. said...

If you ever get to ironing, I highly recommend watching Stop Making Sense while doing so.

Regarding the toilet paper issue, dare I risk a flame war by yelling "Overshot!" in a crowded bathroom?

Donna said...

Good luck on the TP lessons...my family is convinced I am the only person with enough security clearance to accomplish that feat in our house.

On a laundry note...I taught both my kids how to do their own laundry at the ripe old age of 12. I count it as personal growth for kids. :)

J. said...

@Donna, LOL re the TP comment. Apparently my family thinks the same. And IMO 12 is the perfect age to start doing laundry. (I was that age when I started, and so is my daughter.)

@Dave S. You lost me. :-(

@Larissa, Hmm... you may be right. "How to Live with a Teenager"?

@Anonymous, Tiger Mom? I'm a pussycat. And sadly, the floor is still functioning as the temporary laundry basket. :-(

Dave S. said...

I presume you are referring to "Overshot!". I am surprised you are unaware of the extensive debate over the proper orientation of toilet paper rolls on the spindle.

J. said...

@Dave S., I was aware of the debate, just not the term "overshot." (For the record, we prefer under.)