Dd has just lost her third cardigan this term...

[foxinsocks]

and I know there's nothing anyone can do about it but I am seething. They are school cardigans - school uniform is not compulsory (it's a state school) but most children wear the school uniform including the branded cardigans (£8 a go). Her cardigans are named with an iron-on name tag AND her name is written on the label. I've checked lost property so that must mean other children are wearing them and the parents haven't noticed. I can understand not noticing for a few days but I cannot see how she could lose 3 in one term. She says she puts them on her peg but when it comes to the end of the day, they're not there. ggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrr

[starlover]

can you have a word with her teacher? ask her to check cardigans when they take them off etc? or perhaps she could write a note to all the parents in your dd's class asking them to check they don't have one of yours!

[Nightynight]

thats really out of order! someone is being very careless. probably the same mum who never bothers to check for headlice

[foxinsocks]

I spoke to the teacher this morning (before the loss of cardigan 3) and she said she would help me look (and she did to her credit!).

I checked a few on pegs - dd is also smaller than most kids (she is an August birthday) so it would be quite obvious if one of the bigger kids had it.

I was thinking of putting a note in people's book bags asking them to check and put the cardi on dd's peg (if they were too embarrassed). Do you think that would make me seem like a mad woman obsessed with cardigans?

[Nightynight]

yes
but perfectly understandable in the circs. most of us notice 8 quid for something that we have already bought twice.

[starlover]

foxinsocks.... keep an eye out for ones that have had labels cut out (removing the evidence so to speak!)

[foxinsocks]

eaney, dd is 5 and in yr 1 but I must admit (shamefully) I did lose my temper with her and told her she has to go in with a coat but no jersey/cardi tomorrow (she has no choice as I have no more cardigans!). I don't think it's her fault though (although she is quite careless). Poor dd - when she comes out with her cardigan, before she has even said hi, she says 'look mummy, my cardigan is still here!'

[starlover]

tell her not to take it off! ever! lol

[foxinsocks]

aah cut out labels! I didn't think of that. I shall collar all children with small looking cardis and suspect labels, line them up against the wall and interrogate them all.

[starlover]

god, you would think that parents would notice their kids coming home with extra cardigans!

[Lonelymum]

My children occasionally lose the odd jumper (although they are always named) and I don't rest until I have it back! Three cardigans in one term is no joke.

Actually, the one time I did write the loss off, the jumper did eventually get returned to me so if your dd's cardigans have her name in them, I should imagine you will eventually see them again (unless there is a serial thief on the loose!)

[WigWamBam]

Does your school have a newsletter? Parents at dd's school can ask for lost clothes and so on to be mentioned in the weekly newsletter, but I don't know whether that's the sort of thing that all schools have.

[Nightynight]

I would question whether a particular child is targetting your dd as a form of bullying - but I have a suspicious mind.

[foxinsocks]

I am v v pissed off!!
Cardigan 1 did briefly reappear (after a month) only to disappear a week after it came back. Cardigan 2 went missing after half term and cardigan 3 today (I hold out a small hope of finding it tomorrow).

[foxinsocks]

I hadn't thought of that nightynight (with my lovely innocent vision of what yr 1 is like!).

I might suggest this to the teacher and see what she says. It could also be a case of another child who can't find their own cardigan just taking dd's off the peg (but you'd think the parents would notice).

[QueenEagle]

This would annoy me greatly. dd2 lost his brand new jumper within a week of being at school in September and I refuse to buy a new one as they are notorious for turning up just after you have forked out for a new one. Can't imagine why he keeps moaning he is cold every morning!

dd lost her entire pe kit, her flourescent bike straps and her brand new raincoat within 2 weeks of starting school. Refusing also to buy her any more.

I give up!

[Orinoco]

Message withdrawn

[Janh]

After DS2 lost a couple at primary school I had a rummage through Lost Property and helped myself to a couple more (unlabelled of course)

[Janh]

Can't go and rummage at Sec School of course, and I believe that they send theirs to charity shops every half term if unclaimed, which is infuriating

[foxinsocks]

I'm glad other people would be annoyed. Dh was making me feel like a complete mad woman for being pissed off - this from the man who has already lost a woolly hat, 2 watches, a pair of glasses and dd's ventolin inhaler (which he nicked from her) in the space of a couple of months!

[Shimmers]

Ask your teacher if your child can put his or her jumper/cardigan in the book bag when s/he takes it off. That way everyone knows where it it and no other child can tamper with it. It is strange that the cardies haven't come back to you as they are labelled.

[nightowl]

at ds's school you dont have to have jumpers with the school logo on them, so long as they are the right colour. me being me, i bought 5, costing about £60 just as the new school logo came in. (i had a little bit of money at the time!) i admit i was seething when he came back home with someone else's jumper "how on earth could you mistake it for yours, it has a different logo on it?" thats the bit i didnt understand. i felt awful for being so angry but if i wanted any old jumper i would have bought them from the market, for £3 each! (most of the kids at his school live on a nice estate, i suppose i wanted him to "fit in" with them ). by this time i couldnt afford to replace them.

anyway, we did get them back in the end but a woman i know confessed something at the time which really shocked me. she told me when her son was short of uniform or it was getting old, she would pretend he had lost things, and go rooting through the lost property box for nicer uniform . it annoyed me to think that things like that happen, especially when i know she prefers to spend her money on herself.