The Au Pair's Survival Guide

As pretty much any parent will tell you – laundry can sometimes threaten to overwhelm a household with small children, especially when they are young and exploratory or going through one of the transitions that mark learning how to use a toilet…

In our household, one too many laundry accidents involving shrinking clothes and a surprising colour change mean that we usually sort the clothes ourselves and put the laundry on to wash. For this purpose we in fact have 3 washing baskets in the bathroom, and the children are now old enough to know what needs to go in which one (light coloured, dark coloured and underwear)

But we really, really appreciate the assistance of our au pair in hanging it out to dry (we use the tumble drier very very rarely for environmental reasons) and then folding it up and putting it away.

The procedure is usually that one of us will sort whatever needs washing, then ask (or often forget to ask) for it to be unloaded and hung up to dry.

Being proactive and checking the washing machine and drying racks earns a lot of goodwill from parents! 

In summer the washing line outside is often in use but in winter and in rainy weather we use the drying racks in the basement (like many Copenhagen families).

These can quickly get full and because there is no applied heat both ventilation and a good spacing is essential.

As our children get older we expect them to take more and more of a role in helping out around the house, this means they should learn to fold and put away their own clothes.

They may still need some help with this and one of the roles of an au pair is to help them children to learn how to help around the house, rather than simply doing it for them.

Getting into the habit of folding the laundry and sorting it as far as possible into piles per person as you take it off the drying racks will help reduce the time taken to do this. At least once and often twice per week this washing needs to be distributed to the children (they can often help, depending on age by directing what clothes belong to whom) and then they should be able to put it away by themselves.

Younger children will need help sorting the clothes into piles by type (t-shirts, dresses, jumpers, trousers etc) but may already capable of putting away. If you notice that the cupboards are a bit messy then be proactive and help to tidy them so it is easier for children to learn to keep their own rooms and cupboards tidy.

Clearly, in the way that most children are not very keen to clean up after themselves, this can introduce some battles into daily life. Some of the helpful ways we’ve found to make it easier:

• Turn it into a “who can put away their clothes the fastest” game, by setting an alarm clock.
• Put on some music and dance around the room together putting the laundry away.
• Promise a nice healthy (or with permission from parents) a not-so-healthy snack if it is done quickly – but make sure the conditions are folloewed or the reward should be withdrawn! Putting away laundry for a second breakfast of waffles on a Saturday morning is often enough of an incentive.

Then you can sit back and admire your handy work.