UPDATE: The winner is…Ellen!
*~*~*
This morning, in the rush to get kids ready for school, the 15-year-old came to me in a panic because today is picture day and she needed a shirt ironed. It hit me (yeah, sometimes, I’m kind of slow) that I’m the only person in the house who knows how to iron clothes.
It gets worse. My daughter doesn’t buy clothing that has to be ironed. If she sees something she likes, a shirt, for example, she won’t buy it if she thinks she can’t wash and dry and then immediately hang it to avoid ironing it.
I remember being ten and being given a huge garbage bag filled with clothing, sheets (even T-shirts) that had been sprayed with water and rolled into tight balls, which I would take out one at a time and iron. I hated ironing, but the skill came in handy when I was in the Army, because at the time, you had to iron your fatigues or pay to have them laundered for you.
Today, there’s not a person in our 6-person household, other than me, who knows that to create steam you have to add water to the hole on the top of the iron. I feel like a failure as a mother and grandmother. It’s a survival skill just like learning to cook, which thankfully, the kids have learned to do.
For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me whether you have an ironing board and iron that you use. Or is there another “lost art” that today’s generation has forgotten?
Open Contests
Happy World Storytelling Day! (Contest)— Last day to enter! Win an Amazon gift card!What makes you happy? (Contest) — Last day to enter! Win a FREE book!- A Reminder for Your Weekend Enjoyment! (Contest) — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
- Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Animals in a Boat — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
- Anna Taylor Sweringen/Michal Scott: Josephine Silone Yates – Another Undaunted Pioneer (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
- Word Search: Colors of Paint (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
- Easter Stories (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
- Saturday Puzzle-Contest: What I’m bingeing now… — Win an Amazon gift card!
- Happy Easter & March Into April (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
Comment
LOL! I had to reply to this post because it triggered one of my favorite memories from raising my children. At the time, my son was about five or six. (He’s now 40.) We were visiting a friend. My son pointed to an ironing board set up in the kitchen and said, “Mommy, what’s that?”
As far as I’m concerned, it’s a lost art … and should be!
My hubbie will sometimes iron, but once I left my childhood home, I refused to ever do it again. Like your daughter, if it has to be ironed, I won’t buy it.
(Not for the contest.)
Comment
For me, the ironing board, and ironing, stirs many, many memories. Like you, I learned to iron young and I remember those rolled up, sprinkled clothes. I did teach my daughter to iron, but well, she doesn’t do it anymore. I do still own an ironing board. My brother wanted to know why when he helped me move last month, but well, I still sew one the rare occasion. One still needs to iron for that. Another lost art?
Comment
I learned to iron from the woman who lived with my grandparents. My mom didn’t iron. As you I had to iron when I was in the army not fatigues but faded blue colored shirt and skirt that buttoned down from that had to be spray starched so it would stand on its own. Yep still on an iron but hardly ever use it. It is an art form that has been lost. Thank you for your service
Comment
I have both. Navy Sailor, but I knew even before I went in, and both my kids know too.
Comment
Yes I have and use my iron, but I’m your age more or less. I was also in the Navy, so the skill was needed. I quilt now, so ironing comes in very handy.
Comment
I still use an iron but no longer have an ironing board, I use a towel to iron on the table. My son laughs when I do bring it out.
Comment
I have ironed a few times… my mom and grandma showed me when I was a preteen.
Comment
I have two irons (steam), and an ironing board….lol
Comment
I have 2 ironing but no ironing boards
Comment
I do but it’s a very small folding iron board and a run of the mill iron…. And I more so use it when I sew then anything else….. Now my ex husband on the other hand is a completely different story
Comment
I have an iron, but we don’t iron anything. Just fold or hang.
Comment
I have an iron and ironing board. I made sure to teach both of my kids how to iron when they were young. I think it’s a good skill (like how to do laundry).
Comment
😆 I do own an iron but I can’t remember the last time I used it.
I’m totally like your daughter- buy clothes that don’t need ironing
Comment
I own both an iron and an ironing board, although I use them very rarely these days, LOL! I think I pull them out occasionally if say, the youngest needs a shirt for dressing up…
Comment
I enjoyed ironing. Still have both. As a kid, I had a 3 inch electric iron and a small ironing board of my own. I had doll clothes that I would ‘sprinkle’ with water just to iron them. Just a note–I had dolls, too but NEVER played with them. From a family of 5, before dryers, we hung clothes in the cellar to dry. They HAD to be ironed. folded what could be, lightly pressed what could be, but had to dampen what really needed to be ironed. Stacked the clothes on the ironing board, sprinkled with water, then rolled them tightly, packing them in a plastic lined wooden basket. Started from the top and ironed what you could. What wasn’t done was shoved in the bottom shelf of the fridge for the next day. This insured they would not get a moldy smell.
Comment
yes
Comment
So, it sounds like ironing is a dying art! Love dry and hang, but it is a good skill to have.
The winner of the GC is…Ellen!