Do you think this would be harsh or mean?

Question

My 8 year old CONSTANTLY stays dirty, and what makes me angrier is the fact that she feels the need to change clothes 4 or 5 times a day (creating more work for me)....and always wearing the nice clothes. Everytime i see the laundry hamper full of her grime covered clothes and I had just done the laundry 4 days before, I just want to scream. The worst of it came when I dressed her up for my sister's wedding--she was supposed to be the flower girl--and I then spent about a half an hour doing my hair. When I came out of the bathroom, I saw she was nowhere in the house. I rushed outside....to find her wrestling around on the ground in her new dress. That was the first time I came close to murder.

I'm thinking the next time she continues to change clothes needlessly or dirty up her good clean clothes, I'm going to run a tub full of water and make her hand wash them. But first I want an opinion from parents who have been around the block more than I have. And if you think it's too harsh, what do you suggest?

Answer 1

Well, there's no reason to hand wash. After all, you don't do that, right?

My mother put a piece of tape on the washer to indicate where to line up the arrow on the load starter gizmo.  So I knew where to put the arrow to start a load of wash.

Then she used a sharpie on the measuring cup for the detergent.

Then she pointed at the hamper of laundry, and told me I was going to school in filthy clothes unless I washed them.

Guess, what?

I learned my lesson.

Answer 2

whatver makes you feel better

Answer 3

I would love it if I only washed every 4 days. But  I know what you mean. As soon as you have seen her change make her go back and put them away and put the dirty colthes back on (if you are not going anywhere) or make her do her own load of washing with the machine from setting it , to hanging it out, bringing it in and ironing it. Let her realise how much goes into it. Not by hand in the bath tho

Answer 4

It's not too harsh to make her wash her own clothes at all. She'll soon get sick of having to wash all the time, as I'm sure you are too.

Maybe she could start doing her own washing from now on, not necessarily all hand washed though. Once she learns to keep herself clean and not go through so much clothing, she could use the washing machine.

I wasn't a dirty kid, but I was doing my own laundry at eight.

Answer 5

Just don't let her change so often! She gets dirty, she can stay dirty. One set of clothes per day unless there's a particular good reason to change. Keep the "nice" clothes away from her altogether unless there's a reason for her to wear them.

And if my child was dressed up for a wedding and then deliberately got dirty I'd spank their bottom. She's eight, not two.

Answer 6

Do it! Make her wash her own clothes by hand (washing machine makes it too easyfor her and she wouldn't learn her lesson), doing it by hand however actually means she has to actually work to wash them...

8yrs old - well she should surely know better by now, If she dirtied her flower girl dress by wrestling on the ground outside, I would of tanned her butt, But you already knew she was like this and probably should of done her hair before dressing her, so yeah I think you kinda made the blunder on that one knowing what she's like. My step daughters were like that (still are sometimes) and I make them wash all their clothes by hand, they don't do it again for a while at least.  

Answer 7

I don't think its too harsh as long as its not every time she gets dirty or anything.  If she gets her clothes very dirty after you told her not to you can have her clean some clothes, but not so little shes having fun, just enough untill she gets bored and then shell learn.  i make my children dry up the bathroom floor if theyve splashed water on it and it helps.