How To Help Your Child Learn How To Iron, Part 2

Ironing’s a skill and tools make a difference. Don’t you think?

What’s your preferred approach to learning? Do you really want to learn to do something you’ll hate for the rest of your life?

Do you want to teach your child to do something they’ll hate for the rest of their life?

I don’t think so.

Yet many people learn to iron with the same enthusiasm as going to the dentist.

Why?

The initial approach is wrong when they’re learning. If you have to do something, isn’t it better to approach it from a positive frame of mind rather than a negative frame of mind?

If you want to help your child learn something, which frame of mind is going to get the best result?

I’ll answer that question for you with another question. When you were at school, which teachers motivated you the most? The ones who were pedantic and boring? Or the ones who turned learning into an interesting experience and inspired you?

Next question. How many of you found learning at school interesting and inspiring? I hear you already. Not many!

Therefore, I’m addressing this learning experience as positive thinking at its highest form.

Ironing is a skill, not a chore. And tools make a difference.

Learning something as a skill has a much more positive outcome. For instance.

My friend Charlene waxes lyrical about her ironing lady, Yvette. Charlene gives a vivid description of Yvette’s flawless, finished look, without a wrinkle in the collars or sleeves of Charlene’s husband’s shirts. Yvette’s French and learned how to iron from her mother, who worked in a French laundry.

My partner, Victor Pleshev, learned to iron from his mother, and he’s much better at ironing than I am. Like Yvette’s mother, Victor’s mother did a stint in a laundry when they first immigrated to Australia. She didn’t speak English and took the first job she was offered. Moreover, she taught Victor how to iron using all the skills she learned. Today, at 80, she’s still a perfectionist with her ironing.

The best way to start teaching your child is with the attitude that you’re teaching them a lifetime skill. A skill up there with sewing, carpentry and playing the piano.

To get the best results, your child needs the right tools. Cast your mind back to Part 1. Why do they need their own tools? So they can hang out with you and iron with you while you’re ironing. Plus, ownership of the tools often leads to ownership of the skill.

You only need 3. This is a low tech, simple skill that doesn’t require high tech gadgets. A board and iron suitable to their height and weight to start with. Plus a pressing cloth to put over their first real practice garments to avoid burning them.

Mini boards placed on a stable table at the correct height for your child to be comfortable might be just right. There are quite a few available. These boards are also fabulous for packing and taking with you when you travel. Links to websites which feature these boards are listed below. Once you see them, you’ll be able to decide if they’re right for your child.

To purchase a smaller folding board with traditional legs, look in most hardware and/or discount stores like Wal-Mart, K Mart and Big W. The smallest board will be about 110cm long (about 27”).

Price matters here. Cheap board = flimsy construction. What, you ask, can possibly go wrong?

1. Examine how the mesh plate attaches to the frame. Is it stapled or welded? The cheaper the board, the more likely the mesh plate is stapled to the frame. And guaranteed to be thin mesh. Believe me, it doesn’t take much pressure for the staples to come out and the mesh top to come adrift. And/or the thin mesh plate caves in and the top looks like a banana.

2. Look at the mechanism for folding the board up and down. Is it smooth and easy to adjust, or does it catch, is it a bit rough, does it miss a ratchet or two? An unreliable mechanism allows the legs to collapse while your child is ironing.

1 and 2 above can mean your child will burn themselves if the mesh plate comes adrift and/or the folding mechanism loses its hold and the board falls down. Either one of those events will certainly cause your child to lose their grip on the iron. Do I need to go any further?

Is your iron too big and/or too heavy? Try a mini iron or a travel iron. They have a second life when you pack them in your suitcase when you travel. And both styles come with a steam facility. Travel irons are available in appliance stores and on the web. Mini irons are found on craft sites on the web. Links to a few websites are included below to give you some idea of what I’m talking about.

A pressing cloth can be purchased in any haberdashery section. But all you really need is a lightweight piece of fabric, like homespun, without hems. If that’s not available, a handkerchief is fine. We’re not ironing the Queen’s best dress here. Just practicing for the moment.

And practice, with a positive approach, makes all the difference as to whether your child hates doing this or winds up being a perfectionist, over time.

How do you make it interesting when you and your child hang out together, doing the ironing? Think back to when you were a child. What did you want to talk about when you had a parent all to yourself? And fast forward to today. What’s your child interested in talking about?

When I was 8 and learning to iron, this was about the only time I had my mother to myself. And I made the most of it. My mother and I gossiped. About my older sister. Her brothers and sisters. How things have changed since she was 8 years old.

I also remember my mother never turned this into a ‘parental authority’ occasion. The gossip was always interesting. How she learned to ‘shimmy’; about the drunken neighbour at the end of the street; her life as a couture dressmaker in New York City; my Uncle Joe’s eccentric wife, Marie.

And we played word games. I realise now this is how she taught me to spell!

Before I knew it, I’d ironed all the handkerchiefs, the pillowcases and the tea towels. And I rarely wanted to stop while I was being entertained by her and her stories.

Do you get the idea?!

If your child isn’t an only child, this is a rare occasion for you both to get to know each other on different terms. As Antonia Kidman (Nicole Kidman’s sister) recently pointed out in her Mum’s The Word column for New Idea on January 6, breaking the family apart for short periods changes the dynamics.

If you haven’t tried this before, try it now. You’ll find it very rewarding.

Part 3 is about techniques in ironing, starting with the small things and moving up to the bigger things. From handkerchiefs to shirts. From a cold iron to a hot iron. And how to keep that motivation going when they can finally ‘ride this bike’ on their own.

Links to mini boards and small irons are below. Keep scrolling down.

Take care,

CAROL

Carol Jones
Director
Interface Pty Ltd
Ilford NSW 2850 Australia
Designers of The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover
Our simple design solutions change your attitude and make every product a joy to use

The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover, Roadworks Apron, Log Lugger, Travel Bug Shoe Bag, Mr Chin’s Laundry Bag and Sweet Shoo are all simple solutions for difficult problems. And every one is a joy to use.

We’ve developed markets for these 6 products without national or international retail distribution. To see what we’ve achieved, click on our website at www.interfaceaustralia.com.

Read the story of how our business began on The Ironing Board Cover Lady. No sales hype. Just a down home story about how we started our business on the dining room table of our rural property, driving on ‘L’ Plates, without an instructor.



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These are links to websites which feature mini ironing boards.

The Ultra Mini Ironing Board: http://www.organizes-it.com/poironbrd.php

Stowaway Mini Folding Board: http://betterlifestyleproducts.com.au/tabletop-ironing-boards.html

Clover Mini/Travel/Craft Iron: http://www.punchwithjudy.com.au/shop/home.php?cat=310