<p>I agree that the “ruining laundry” fear is overblown. What do college students wash, anyway? T-shirts, underwear, jeans, sweats and sheets? What exactly is the big concern over these items? The red T-shirt might turn the white one pink? Oh well. After that one experience, most people of even limited intelligence can deduce the cause and effect and not do it again.</p>
<p>You made the right choice! She’ll get really useful life experience!!!</p>
<p>I just sent color catcher sheets to college with son–they worked pretty good I was later informed…</p>
<p>D2 loves clothes and so her wardrobe involves a lot more than jeans, tee shirts, and sweatpants. She does have to be attentive to how she launders them. But she’s been doing her own laundry for years. I don’t remember teaching her, but I guess she picked it up just by observation.</p>
<p>She’s the one who told me about the color catchers. I’d never heard of them.</p>
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The majority of my shirts and sweaters must be washed on the delicate cycle. I’d be very torn to find out that the shirts I wore that past week were ruined by the campus dryer.</p>
<p>It’s not only color bleeding onto light colored clothing that’s an issue. I don’t know any college students who wear only jeans and t-shirts-never have. Some sweaters need to be air-dried. Some knits need to be hung. Some clothes need low heat, others delicate wash cycle.</p>
<p>Just last year I missed getting a knit jacket I needed to hang dry out of the wash before transferring it to the drier. It’s now about 3 sizes too small and worn by my D. I cannot find a replacement. It wasn’t expensive but I loved the color and I’m now SOL. Kids who don’t know how to do laundry may not have the time or means to replace multiple items because they’ve ruined them by washing or drying the wrong way.</p>
<p>I have ruined and still ruinning some of my laundry, I am ancient. I guess, I am mentally incapable, considering many decades of doing laundry. So what? Majority of laundry is getting thru, who counts the ruined ones?
The is a saying, the one who is doing the dishes is the one who is breaking the most of them.<br>
Unfortunately, even MDs kill their patients.<br>
There is no guarantee in doing anything at 100% success rate. We can only hope that we do not have control possessed people around us who would blame us for the littlest mistakes, like ruinning few peices of clothing.<br>
And as far as people dying under care of MD, there is malpractice insurance for that. Cannot bring person back. But on the other hand, if perfection was rquired, we would not have anybody to take care of us when we are sick.<br>
Another thought. Your washer/dryer is exactly the same as they will be using while at college and later on in thier lives? I guess so! Ohterwise, what is a point? My Medical student cannot operate my washer/dryer at home without reading all the labels on the buttons at every single visit at home. I cannot do it either if I do laundry somewhere else. Every time I have to boil something, even if it is something that I do often, I need to read instrucitons on the packaging, just like the very first time many decades ago. Conclusion - neither of us have enough brain to retain such important inforamtion.</p>
<p>There’s a big difference between carefully reading directions and still getting a few items in the wrong wash cycle and wrecking all or most of a load of wash. Not everyone has the means to just throw them out and go buy new things, or perhaps their parents aren’t interested in replacing them. Maybe my opinion is skewed because I spent much of my first two years of college in the dorm room across from the dorm laundry room and at least once or twice a week, there would be wailing as some kid pulled out a load of clothes full of ruined items. </p>
<p>Yes, re-reading directions on each item and the washer every time would lessen such events. But I’m talking about the idea that “anyone can learn in 10 minutes”, because from personal observation, not everyone CAN.</p>
<p>And this goes to any number of other “life skills”. Yes, anyone CAN boil water, drop in pasta, and cook it for the number of minutes directed on the box, then dump a jar of sauce onto it. But most people can’t just open the fridge, pull out ingredients and make an actual MEAL without some kind of instruction. I’ve never met a person who just taught themselves to sew. And so on. </p>
<p>Not everyone can afford to throw away loads of clothes, ripped clothes, ruined food because they can’t cook, and if that’s the case, they can’t afford to hire it all out either. A little simple instruction from someone who knows would never go to waste, imo.</p>
<p>Cooking for S was learned at home–fun alternative to video games. (I credit my hubbie–he could turn any new meal into an adventure…)
D is learning cooking now much later but the main thing she learned at home was not to be afraid of cooking mistakes. Just do it and the garbage disposal will take care of the evidence…but it looks pretty good (she sends us pictures of her creations).
Simple instruction DOES go a long way but it doesn’t have to be learned before leaving home. Cooking lessons, how to paint, home maintenance,gardening, car maintenance is invaluable. You can do it on your own but even a little instruction will put you far ahead of the curve.</p>
<p>I think almost more important than learning the actual skill is learning that you are CAPABLE of doing all this mundane stuff and knowing it is WORTH knowing it and putting in the sweat equity.</p>
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I think almost more important than learning the actual skill is learning that you are CAPABLE of doing all this mundane stuff and knowing it is WORTH knowing it and putting in the sweat equity./
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<p>That and that these are tasks that need to be done and no magic fairy does them.
They get to practice some of these at home where you can help them recover from their mistakes…</p>
<p>Like 1/4C of salt and 1/4 tsp of salt are very different in mashed potatoes.</p>
<p>“anyone can learn in 10 minutes”, because from personal observation, not everyone CAN."
-I can assure you that my kids were NOT given any directions for doing laundry, cooking, shopping, cleanning, unless they have asked specific ones while doing some of these tasks on their own. The reason - nobody would remember, not us, not in our family. Nor they participated in any chores. More so, I learned some of it from them when they were coming home.<br>
However, as I said, there are people who enjoy some of these tasks. So, go ahead and continue enjoying, why not? D. looks at any house chores as nice breaks from studying. The only question is if she can afford these breaks on certain day or not.<br>
I just do not understand what is such a big deal here when we can see later that people who are really struggling are the ones who cannot manage their time and who cannot find their support group outside of home because they lack social skills. These 2 are really big deal. They can break anybody, they can derail their goals during college and after. The house chores do not belong in this category.</p>
<p>One more reason to teach kids basic life skills is to not irritate potential roommates, or potential mates. </p>
<p>The ability to know how to make a meal worth sharing with others, to not leave the bathroom basin a hair covered mess, to clean the bathroom, the sticky kitchen counters, to SEE an unswept floor and do something about it, is part of the goal. Doing the skill is one thing, and seeing the need for some action is something that is picked up better with a little direct instruction and expectation of certain upheld standards. </p>
<p>Many folks think they are doing laundry just fine, yet some of us prefer to keep our whites white, rather than grey, and our sweaters intact. Back in the day, I used to hide my white nurses’ uniforms from anyone else that would wash them, like my ex. He was a champ at doing laundry, but had never done it to any standard. </p>
<p>Same with folks I’ve rented to-some are just clueless. It is more than lack of the skills, it is more lack of knowing that there are reasons for developing such skills. </p>
<p>MiamiDAP, for once I do agree with you, regarding social competence being important to develop, more than any of these other skills. However, it is all part of being, and bringing up, a well rounded human being, and some of us see developing certain life skills as a part of that entire process.</p>
<p>They are lots of students that mostly just wear jeans (or khakis) and tshirts, especially boys. Or in my family… a boy and a tomboy. My kids prefer colored underwear and sheets/towels, so only their socks are white. Perhaps they get dingy, but no biggie. </p>
<p>Here’s a skill that DS didn’t believe was important… careful inventory of pre-existing dorm room damage. So he paid (from his own money) for small repairs at the end of the year. I bet it doesn’t happen again ;)</p>
<p>We have received back all deposits (for potential damages) ever paid to any rental office. Apparently, lack of house chore skills did not prevent our children to still use their common sense.</p>
<p>My kids have done their own laundry for years, it’s a skill they are taught around age 10 in our house for a variety of reasons (I don’t want to do it all, they need to learn how, doing their own makes them think twice about wearing 3 different outfits in a day and tossing them into the hamper, and so on). My kids also do some cooking and certainly baking (wanting to eat baked goods being the incentive there). </p>
<p>S is living in a campus area house with 3 other guys this year and I have loved his texts home…“We bought tilapia. Should I fry it or bake it?”…“How long should chicken thighs be in the over, they’re already seasoned?” …“you never told me about Aldi!”…“What seasoning should I put on pork chops to grill them?” </p>
<p>Answering these questions makes me happy…I sent him a couple of cookbooks last week too. </p>
<p>It also amuses me when he complains that one of his roommates “leaves stuff on the dishes when he washes them” 
:)</p>
<p>I think housework is best taught before the kid leaves for college. We have always had a cleaning person so my kids lacked this basic skill until 2 years ago, when we moved and I decided we could clean our own house and teach them a few life skills. </p>
<p>It’s not that hard to clean, what’s hard is teaching a kid to recognize when the place needs cleaning and to take the initiative to do it without being asked. It’s this, more than the actual skill of cleaning, that makes a person a good roommate/life partner. My son is still not quite there yet–I have to point out that the shower is getting moldy–but my daughter got pretty good at maintaining her shared bathroom as well as the common areas.</p>
<p>Her first purchase at college was a Swiffer, so I know she learned something. She likes to cook and has good instincts, but still has a ways to go in terms of skill. I figure as long as she has some of the basics down, she can pick up the rest, as I did.</p>
<p>The most important “life skill” I think students learn in the early college years is how to live with other people. Being a good roommate and respecting other people is something that a lot of kids don’t learn until they get to school and are forced to live in a dorm with another student. All the other stuff can come later as they get their own place, but just learning to respect each other’s space, be considerate, and act like a grown up when handling conflicts is the most important in my opinion.</p>