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Mostly clothes wise. I’m 44 and she is 72. She is just so good at ironing and sewing that If I have a dress to wear or a nice shirt and pants that need ironing and buttons sewn on, I’ll give it to her. She can make everything look great. Even just folding things. I’ve always been bad at it and I don’t have kids. Sometimes I try to do these things and I always mess them up. I tried for an hour to get wrinkles out of a dress for a wedding and sew and couldn’t do it. Why is it so hard for me and easy for her.
I’m not good at it either but thats why there is the cleaners/tailors.
If your mom is fine with helping you, I don’t see the issue, but your mom wont be around forever so I think it’s something that’s helpful to learn ... I would ask her to show you
Well, you usually dewrinkle clothes with an iron. Or maybe you needed to use a steamer? At any rate you learn to do clothing care by doing clothing care. So, get your mom to show you how she does what she does. And then practice.
Basic sewing is a good life skill. If you do not know how to sew, you can get your mom to show you how to sew a button on, at the very least.
Mostly clothes wise. I’m 44 and she is 72. She is just so good at ironing and sewing that If I have a dress to wear or a nice shirt and pants that need ironing and buttons sewn on, I’ll give it to her. She can make everything look great. Even just folding things. I’ve always been bad at it and I don’t have kids. Sometimes I try to do these things and I always mess them up. I tried for an hour to get wrinkles out of a dress for a wedding and sew and couldn’t do it. Why is it so hard for me and easy for her.
Because she has probably 60+ years of practice and experience. She wasn't sprung from the womb with a natural talent for it. :P
It's no different than taking it to a seamstress. If your mother is willing and able, I don't see the problem. It's not like today's parents who do everything for their kids.
It's no different than taking it to a seamstress. If your mother is willing and able, I don't see the problem. It's not like today's parents who do everything for their kids.
I would say that it's no more a problem than it was decades ago; it just depends on your own experience. It was around then and it's around now. My mother and her friends went off to college not knowing how to cook, clean, or solve their own problems. And while her mother had just always gotten her mother-in-law to fix things up for them all, she found that her friends' mothers all just did everything at home when she visited them. Sure, they had to dust lampshades or poorly run a vacuum through a few rooms, but it wasn't productive work; it was busying work. She wanted them out of her hair. The moms waited on everyone, hand and foot, otherwise, and completely unresentful about any of it. They begged their kids to live at home, even after marriage, and did the same with the grandchildren. They don't know how to do anything and as their parents/grandparents have died, have to hire out now for everything or marry into a family that still "knows how to do stuff."
Among the children I know, quite a few have chores... real chores, and if they don't learn to cook or clean from home, the school teaches it. Really. Even the chemistry teacher will come down and work with the FACS (Family and Consumer Sciences lol - modern home ec) teacher, to work on the removal of all manner of stains from all kinds of fabrics, tile, etc. They bake, cook omelettes, sew buttons, iron, etc. That's for half of the school year... the other half of the year is for "tech": safety precautions, how to use all kinds of saws and why you need different ones for different jobs, wiring small electronics, re-wiring lamps and installing light fixtures, building or repairing furniture for the school, fixing fences, etc.
If we don't teach children how to do things and have them practice, we can hardly blame them for not knowing how to do it competently.
I would guess that the reason you "can't" do these things is because she always did it for you and didn't begin teaching you when you were younger. At this point, your Mom may still enjoy doing these things for you and be glad you ask her. Many older people miss being needed. As already mentioned, you can have things done by professional laundries or cleaners if ever necessary.
This made me smile a bit. I don't live anywhere near my mother, but she is an expert at ironing. She still irons all their clothes, even their jeans. Everything is crisp and pressed. She has given me a lovely iron as a gift, but my husband is the only one who uses it. I just take things out of the dryer right away and hang them up. I feel just as put together as she looks.
When she visits, I supply her with my iron and an ironing board. It stays set up throughout their visit because of the constant use. It has been this way my entire life. There is no question that if she was here and I needed something ironed that I would ask her to help me out. She would roll her eyes and tell me I failed at life (joking of course) and iron it for me, just like in childhood. Granted, she did not teach me how to do it because that would have taken longer than just doing it herself. On the rare occasion I do get out the iron, my husband usually asks if he can take over
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