Could losing things be hereditary?

[Janh]

My DH is a gold-medal loser. He has lost two whole buggies (1 in a car park - parked buggy next to car, loaded child in, drove off, and 1 at a playground - wheeled child to swings from car, carried him back, loaded him in, drove off) and 2 good pairs of trousers (one from a suit)...I know what you're probably thinking but football was involved both times! Also numerous fivers and tenners. And he can never find anything even when I tell him where it is to the nearest foot.

Anyway our older son is always FINDING money (in the street!) and is also pretty good at following directions to things in the house, but the younger one literally doesn't know how to look for things (goes into room, rotates, eyes don't function, returns and says it's not there) and has lost countless items of clothing, mostly sweaters, coats, hats, gloves etc. (no trousers yet) but also things like swimming goggles. Hence the question. Any ideas? Can I program it out of them?

[Ariel]

janh.I have to say your post made me smile(alot) i thought my dh was forgetful but to date he has never lost a buggy how on earth do men manage this sort of madness!!!,my dh wont get our kids ready for school because he says its far to much to remember,after all how can i expect him to remember to get the children up,washed,fed,dressed and to the right school on time. Times i have spent in hospital i have had to write a detailed letter to him so he doesnt forget anything.Just goes to prove that men are no good at multi tasks.thanks janh for makeing me giggle,i needed it today!!!!!

[Janh]

Oh good, Ariel, I'm glad to have cheered you up a bit!
(Your detailed letter to him while in hospital reminds me of the instructions I had to write so he could do some washing when I was in hosp having 3rd baby - starting with "lift lid on laundry basket", running for about a page and a half and ending with "have beer".)
I was thinking, after I posted the first message, I suppose I should be grateful that he didn't bring the buggy home and leave the child in the car park!

[Tigermoth]

And don't you find when your son loses clothes it's always the nice, new ones that go missing?

Can you programme it out of them? I just don't know, JanH, but you have to live in hope don't you? I try and make sure my son has a school bag/rucksack big enough to stuff both his jumper and jacket in, so when his little face gets all red in the playground etc, he has somewhere to put his tops. That's if he doesn't lose his bag, of course.

Trousers with ample pockets help, too. Keeps all the smaller things safe, not to mention his homework sheets which he folds up to a postage stamp size and stuffs deep inside his front pockets (someone would think he doesn't want me to find them.. no, surely not..)

Problem is you have to remember to unload the trousers before you load the washing machine, which brings me to your other point - husbands and washing machines Ahhh!

[Twink]

Tigermoth, perhaps we should start a 'husbands and washing machines' thread..
One Friday night a couple of weeks ago mine soundlessly dumped a whole weeks worth of sports stuff on the floor in front of the machine then on Sunday said 'Oh didn't my stuff make it into the machine then ?' and wondered why my reaction was less than positive and supportive...

[Janh]

Tigermoth, he has lost at least 4 lovely sweatshirts in the last year - Joe Bloggs, Next, some Italian thing beginning with F and - I forget the other. I only paid for 2 of them (I nicked the others) (no, no, they were hand-me-downs) and one of those was from Oxfam but still they were the nicest.

He has a huge backpack but still drops his school sweatshirt on the ground. He has 4 or 5 of them, when we're down to one I send him back to school with big brother to root through all the lost property bins and we usually find several. He has only just stopped wearing shorts this week - because there weren't any in his drawer! - he has some trousers with big pockets but doesn't use them.

Twink, I love your load-of-kit story, (especially "didn't it make it into the machine?" as if no human intervention was necessary!) Mine is quite good at delivering his dirty washing, but I have a 16-yr-old daughter who waits until I have emptied the basket, so don't bother looking in for a couple of days, and sneaks in about 3 weeks worth of hers which has been festering on her floor...

The big brother has a rugged Timex explorer-type waterproof watch which has been through the wash loads of times and is still going strong, I can recommend it!

[Scummymummy]

I think it's definitely hereditary and not just down the male line. My Dad looked after my boys today and berated me soundly for running round in a panic searching for my lost keys. I found them in my bag (after looking in there about 4 times and not seeing them.) When I returned my Dad shamefacedly confessed that he couldn't find his umbrella. We spent about half an hour looking and eventually found it in his bag! At bedtime there were tiffs and tantrums because one of my babies had lost his "favourite red double decker bus" and we turned the house upside down before he discovered it in his bed where he'd left it the night before. 3 generations of scatty eejits- I'm not sure which face to choose!

[Jodee]

Twink, ah yes, husbands and washing machines! I cannot fault him too much, he does TRY to do his own washing, but it just takes three times longer than most people. He either loads the machine, puts the powder in and walks off, forgetting to start the thing, or he never bothers to take it out of the machine when it's finished, so muggins usually has to do it when I am doing all the other washing that needs to be done.
Another bugbear is making a cuppa - he will kindly offer to make a brew and an hour later I'm still waiting! The kettle is full of water but not switched on, or the teabags have been left to stew in the cups for half a hour!
This is all selective forgetfulness, I'm sure - he somehow always remembers when a footie/cricket game is about to the start on the TV, funny that.

[Viv]

couldn't agree more, my Dh when looking for something in the kitchen catagorically states that it is not there only for it to be right under his nose! Also when he does 'do me a favour(his words) by helping with the washing he ALWAYS manages to put something red in with the whites!
But football on the telly? - never misses it!