Laundry

via GIPHY

I wrote about my friend Denise in a recent blog.  Today is about her children, Lily and Justin.

Last week we were busy bagging groceries in the warehouse.  Lily and Justin who are around 8 and 10 (not sure of their ages so feel free to correct me Denise) came with their Mother most days.  I was busy working when one of the children said "where is Mom?"  I figured she had gone to the bathroom, but I said,

"Oh, she left you.  She told me I could have you.  She said she was tired of doing your laundry and cooking for you." 

One of them looked at me with those big brown eyes and said "But, Miss Pat, we do our OWN laundry!"

What a testimony!  Not just to those kids but to Denise and her husband.  How many 8 or 10 or even 16 year olds do you know who do their own laundry?

As I was writing this, I thought of two other friends who used to live next door to us.  Their boys were the ages of our boys, so they played together a lot.  Both of those boys did their own laundry.  (Sad to say, my boys did not.  Maybe occasionally, but not all the time.)  At the time, my boys and their friends were around 7 and 11.  But the story doesn't stop there. Those boys had to set their alarm and get up on their own for school.  If they were late they had to explain why.  I think my friend told me they were never late.  They might have been one time, but had to stay after school in detention, so it didn't happen again.

I wonder.  Are we doing our children a disservice?  We expect them to grow up and become adults, but we continue to treat them like new borns when we do everything for them.  

I cannot tell you how many times during a week I hear stories about children who are having problems or who are out of control.  I wonder.....might it be different if we simply taught them how to do their own laundry?