Teaching Kids to Hang Clothes on the Clothesline

 

She is finally tall enough to hang out the clothes and is getting pretty good at it.  She can't reach the ends but does good toward the middle.

            Years ago I had my grandson over for a visit and asked him to come out with me to hang out the clothes.  As we were at the clothesline I asked him to hand me the clothes which he replied “Grandma they are wet!”  My son had been taught to hang out clothes but since he was married his wife nor him apparently ever hung out clothes so the poor grandson had no clue. 

            My other grandchildren are close by so they have been seeing me hang out clothes for years.  Their idea of helping thus far has been to play around while I hang out the clothes.  Now that they are getting taller they are able to start hanging out some clothes.  The younger boys don’t really understand the whole procedure, the one putting as many clothes pins on one piece as possible and the shortest one just attaching them to any part of the clothing and he is helping.

            I had a young gal who was visiting me watch me hang out the clothes and I asked her if she hung out clothes.  She told me she didn’t need to hang out clothes because she had a washer and dryer.  She had never been taught so she didn’t realize what she was missing. 

            When I go out to hang out the clothes whatever time of the year it is I have to stop whatever I think is so important inside and enjoy the weather hot, cold or just right.  I see my plants, flowers and weeds, the birds and whatever else is sharing the beautiful spot on this earth I live in.  You could say it is a kind of meditation with the benefit of clothes that smell wonderful and whites that surpass any that you could get with bleach or out of the dryer.

            I feel it is so important we pass on to our children and grandchildren the art of hanging out clothes, if a dryer ever breaks they need to know there is another way to dry clothes than a Laundromat, or if they just want to save money on the electric bill and have clean smelling sheets.

            If they drop something on the ground just tell them we’ll wash it off, hang it out - no problem.

 

You can never have enough clothes pins (left) and pin the clothespins on your brother (right).