The Nine Days - Children's Clothing

QUESTION: My five year old daughter constantly gets her clothing dirty. May I wash her clothing during the Nine Days?

ANSWER: The Rama (OC 551:14) permits washing children’s cloth diapers and clothing even in the week that Tisha B’Av falls. The above halacha applies even to children who do not wear diapers but who constantly soil their clothing with dirt, mud and the like (Kitzur Hilchos Bein HaMetzarim p. 9:7 citing Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l). Washing these garments, however, should be done in private (Mishna Berura ibid. 83).

There is a discussion among the Acharonim concerning the age of the child who would be included in this permit of the Rama. There are those who only permit washing the clothing of a child before the child has reached the age of chinuch, which is 6 or 7 depending on the child’s acumen (Sefer Chanoch Lana’ar 21:2). The Pri Megadim, however, says that the Rama meant to include children up to the age of Bar or Bas Mitzvah as well (Eishel Avrohom 551:39).

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