Life Skill: How to Properly Wash Dishes

May 11, 2011

Proper dishwashing is an important life skill for every child to learn. Learn the proper steps for dishwashing.


colorful plastic cups in sudsy water

Originally written in 2011. Updated in 2018.
{This post may contain affiliate links.}

Our life skill this week is properly washing dishes. You're probably thinking, "You load them in the dishwasher, put the soap tablet in, close the door and push ON. How hard is that?" 

Ahem.. not in my world. 


We still do it the old-fashioned way. Yes, it's more eco-friendly to use a dishwasher, but this house doesn't have one. In fact, I've rarely had one. Even if I owned one, I still want the children to understand there is a proper way to handwash the dishes.

I've had a few broken glasses lately because heavier dishes were stacked on top of glasses. 
So now we're learning how to properly wash dishes.

Why Teach Kids How to Wash Dishes?


Whether you have a dishwasher or not, learning to wash dishes provides other benefits to your children. 

Dishwashing helps develop skills such as hand-eye coordination, fine motor control, and attention to detail. It also provides your child a sense of responsibility, and a sense of caring for their environment. One study even suggests it decreases stress and increases mindfulness.



How to Properly Wash Dishes

When I was young, dishwashers were a rather new thing, and I never even saw one until I was 10 years old. By then, my grandmother had already taught me the proper order of washing dishes. And now I'm passing it to my own kids.

1. Start with a clean sink. Even if the sink is full of dishes, take them out and stack them each according to it's kind. Clean the sink and fill with hot, soapy water.


2. Wash the dishes from cleanest to dirtiest. This only makes sense. Washing glasses after greasy pans results in greasy glasses. Also, it reduces how many times you need to change the dirty water. 

If the dish drainer becomes full before the dishwashing is complete, towel dry the dishes and put them away. Then continue washing the dishes.


Wash dishes in proper order

  • Wash flatware/silverware first
  • Followed by glasses
  • Then plates and bowls
  • Cooking utensils come next.
  • Now wash the serving dishes (gravy boats, serving bowls, platters, etc.)
  • Bakeware (cookie sheets, baking pans)
  • Save the pots and pans for last, since they are the dirtiest.



3. Clean and dry the sink. A dirty sink may attract bugs and develop odors. Equally as important - waking up to a shiny sink is a joy! Trust me on this. To start the day looking at sink-crud is a real motivation killer, but to walk into the kitchen in the morning to find a sparkling clean sink is uplifting.

How about you? What life skill are you teaching in your homeschool?

11 comments

  1. Austin learned to wash dishes several years ago when my Mom had knee surgery. But, I must admit, it wasn't necessarily the "proper" way. He's about to turn 13 and is still learning the proper way to load the dishwasher. This seems to be a male thing, because neither he nor my husband load it to my satisfaction. LOL

    Right now, Austin is learning how to care for a new baby, now that he is an uncle. He's been around babies before, but never to this degree. We have spent one to two nights per week at Joel & Brittany's house, helping them with the nighttime care so that they can get some sleep. I think this is really good for Austin. Brittany had this experience when Austin was born. She turned 11 the month after he was born.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is a great life skill. I do a slightly different order, which makes sense for us:
    1. Cooking utensils (because they're BIG and float to the top and get in the way)
    2. Glasses
    3. Plates / bowls
    4. Cutlery (that's what we call silverware around here)
    5. Pots, pans and other big stuff (no serving dishes here!)
    Anyway, this is a good reminder to teach this to the kids, though I fear it is too late for the older ones...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous5/17/2011

    Ahem.. So I will be teaching my children from your fabulous how-to blog soon ( I so hate washing dishes lol )

    Actually I have always had a dish washer whether it be my MOM, My husband, or a real dishwasher.. For some reason I rather clean a toilet~> ewww I know right?
    But Anyways In our home right now my kids are learning the value of money and how to manage it they have chores and each has a price, if they want things they must do thier chores and then put so much of thier income into savings and then they may spend the rest $-)

    Keri
    Sahm to my 2 little Online Learners

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh man this brought back memories! We had a dishwasher (me!) but not an automatic one until I was in middle school. There is so much self-discipline and order being taught with simple dish washing! LOVE it!

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  5. I might print this out for my kids to work on! ;-)

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  6. A great post. I think all children need this for life. My children have to load the dish washer, but from time to time I require them to wash by hand. I want to make sure they are prepared for life. Their home may not have a dish washer in it when they grow up so these are skills they will need.

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  7. Thanks so much for all the comments! Wow... who knew a simple little post on dishwashing would be so helpful! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. A great post. I think all children need this for life. My children have to load the dish washer, but from time to time I require them to wash by hand. I want to make sure they are prepared for life. Their home may not have a dish washer in it when they grow up so these are skills they will need.

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is a great life skill. I do a slightly different order, which makes sense for us:
    1. Cooking utensils (because they're BIG and float to the top and get in the way)
    2. Glasses
    3. Plates / bowls
    4. Cutlery (that's what we call silverware around here)
    5. Pots, pans and other big stuff (no serving dishes here!)
    Anyway, this is a good reminder to teach this to the kids, though I fear it is too late for the older ones...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you for leaving old posts here. My daughter will be getting a crash course after lots of stressful battles and simply just doing things myself. As much as she knows what to do, the tasks of life overwhelm her and she simply goes into a meltdown...but in 3 weeks mom won't be able to do ANY of the household tasks for an entire month. I can prep lots of things (and because I am right there, she is a great help with that) but dishes can't be prepped like that (and even if they could, eww) I have never followed an order at least not that I thought about in order to explain it to her, so this is beyond helpful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm glad you're finding the post helpful. You said, "the tasks of life overwhelm her and she simply goes into a meltdown." Is she on the spectrum?

      Delete

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