Handwashing, Laundry and Life Skills

The washing facilities have moved on a peg since my Grandmother Bagley was a young woman.  A copper, a dolly tub and posher and mangle/ringer were all that she had at her disposal and you thought that you were the bees knees if you had these facilities.

Apparently because there were 10 children in the family plus two adults she used to start the laundry at 6.00am on a Monday morning and not stop until about 6:00pm.  One of the older girls used to set about making a meal for the rest and the others also helped but it was very hard work.

Move on to when I was a little girl in the early 1960s.  Twin tubs had come in and if you had one of those then you really were the bees knees.  It made life so much easier.  I had a habit of following my mum or dad or my young uncle everywhere and on one particular occasion I ended up putting my fingers on the side of the hot tub and scalding them badly.  Apparently my hands blistered up and were in a real mess. - I was lucky there was no scarring. However the twin tub really lightened the load and got things done very quickly.  However mum never got rid of the ringer that went a couple of years before she passed.  Laundry was hard work.

Move yet further forward to when I was about 10/11 years of age 1970/1971.  Mum got a new automatic washing machine.  It was great entertainment watching the washing machine go round and round.  All enclosed did everything for you a great step forward.  However new technology was greeted with slight nervousness  - what if it went wrong.

Move forward to when I was 19.  Mum got another more advanced automatic and so did I.  It was my wedding present from mum and Dad.  I was married a month into 19.  Should have known better, but it is part and parcel of who I am.  Mum and Dad's washing machine was brilliant.  Mine in the course of 18 months I had three new engines.  In the end they gave me a new machine - it would appear I had a rogue one.

Move on to present day.  I have a Samsung one that you can add to mid wash.  You hardly use any soap powder.  I thought they were making a mistake when I saw the size of the holder but apparently not.  The wash is calculated mathematically and how much soap powder/liquid you should use which is miniscule these days. If you are getting white streaks on your clothing you are putting in too much soap powder. So do not put anymore in the tub than the holder will take.  I prefer to stay away from the liquid if I can as you seem to get a better wash with the soap powder and keeping the machine clean is better and easier this way.  I really am pleased with this machine.  It has its own cleaning programme.  It sings to you at the end of a wash and the clothes come out really clean.  For the best part I use lower wash programmes but I could not be without a boil wash as this really brings things up nice and clean.  It has the option of what spin speed you use as well as a range of different temperatures that you are able to use within that set programme.  It is fab and I am very happy with it.

However having a machine does not preclude me from doing handwashing.  I use soap powder and fabric conditioner.  My favourite conditioner is the Lenor Golden Orchid although I only ever buy this when it is on offer and stock up.  It smells lovely.

Alternatively a cheaper version is white vinegar which softens the clothes and it is also good to use in a white rinse as it makes the whiteness stand out even more.  I do tend to buy my white vinegar in bulk from the cash and carry.  Not in individual small bottles.

I was taught to launder from the age of 11.  Dad was of the view that his daughter was not going to do what he had had to go through with my mum.  Both sides of the family have always been excellent cooks and homemakers.  Mum was a good cook when they married however like so many other young women at the time they had to put into practice what they had learned in Domestic Science/Cookery lessons which was not always an easy transition and completely different in the classroom than in reality.  Mum had been taught to launder and to starch and when they first got married Dad started to feel a little uncomfy in the nether regions and it turned out mum was washing and starching absolutely anything and everything including his underpants.  Once that little technical hitch was sorted out things settled down and comfort was restored!

As Dad was keen that I should be able to have all the housewifely skills (not a sexist remark just a status quo of the time).  At that time girls were not expected to have a career, but long term were expected to run a home and look after children etc. I had to learn these skills at the knee of my mum to earn my pocket money and golly were there some rows in the process.  I had to help in the house and also be in the kitchen on a Sunday morning to help with cooking Sunday dinner, and mum always whilst she had the oven on used to do a batch bake for the packups during the week.  I had to do my own ironing from the age of 13; mum was working by then part time and also not too well although they could not get to the bottom of the problem.  So I learned very much through practice.  Perhaps it is a good job I did as two years later they realised what the problem was and mum was hospitalised  for six weeks with what was then thought to be a severe liver disease (only four people in the country had it at that time it was that rare - but the prognosis was not good.  Mum held on and was able to undergo a liver transplant and had this for 25 years, but the liver failed in the end.  In reality since then they have had to completely revise their thinking as it is not liver disease per se has proved to be a faulty gene.  This happened as I was taking CSEs/GSEs.  

Social Services did not come in.  I ran the house.  Dad was leaving for work of a morning with pack up; my brother was leaving for school with pack up and I was doing the same.  Of an evening I was contending with a cheeky 11 1/2 year old and the running of the house.  All the laundry got done, the house was kept tidy, brother and I were fed.  Life went on reasonably normal.  Dad was going to Addenbrookes Hospital every day to see mum and was not getting in until 10:00am most nights where there was a cooked meal waiting for him.  I was also studying and taking exams during this time frame.  So Dad's insistence that I learn life skills as it were paid off; we coped and pulled together and dealt with what we had to.  A very positive message in parenting as well.

Even to this day I still hand launder delicate items such as silk (which I do not have too much of) and pure woollen jumpers or nice jumpers with these fancy fibres that need careful handling.   I did a batch of such clothing yesterday.  I find to keep my clothes longer and in good condition that this is a necessary requirement.  I have tried dealing with them in the machine on the so called wool programmes and it has ended up wrecking the clothing.  Usually an expensive item that I love.  So something had to give and back to the handwashing we went.

My Questions are:

1. Does anyone else do this or am I the rarity?
2. Do you think that Life skills, such as Laundry and full Domestic Science classes where you have at least five hours of cooking and associated work should take place at school every week?  That was the way I was taught at the School I went to which took the view that not all kids were equipped academically and endeavoured to give them those skills so that they were able to find employment in the longer term.  There was a large garden at the school for those who were good practically and those veggies that were grown there went to the school kitchens.  Snipping around 6 weeks here on one subject and no regular consistency or practice does not cut it and leaves large gaps in information.
3. Too much emphasis is placed on academic qualifications.  A lot of kids are not academically enabled but they are very good on a practical basis.
4. I feel and possibly I am not the only one that feels this that so many problems with nutrition, feeding of families, lack of responsibility (in some cases) where the Chatelaine of the household absolves responsibility all add to the problem of families not necessarily eating properly or offspring learning life lessons at the knees of their parents.  Their parents have had things easy and don't want it any other way (not all I appreciate - I am generalising here) they are who I call the ping generation.  Yes I use a microwave but it is only one part of cooking and there are other ways of dealing with things.

What are your thoughts on this do you think older skills have their place in today's society and if proper use of those skills were made do you think that a lot of social problems would indeed be circumvented and that over-reliance on over-subscribed agencies could be put in perspective.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Sorry in my usual convoluted fashion I have gone from one subject to another!

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

x

P.S. This post is my own particular view point and refers to items I use. It is not meant as advertising in any shape or form.