Summer students disrespectful of my home.

Lord help you if they were boys - you would have found more than a yogurt pot under the bed!

Exactly. I really couldn’t get worked up over this.

Teddybearspicnic You are just as bonkers as the op. A pair of 15 yr olds and a sandwich !!!! Jesus

It's the sort of thoughtless thing you do when you are 15 and then look back on in mild horror when you are an adult. Gently point out where the food waste goes, you say that they are nice girls so in the scheme of things it is not terrible

I feel sorry that you typed up this ridiculous post. Have you treated someone's home or holiday cottage or hotel room like it's a dustbin?

I think you need reflect

I thought it was funny.

I went on a French exchange when I was about that age. I was incredibly homesick and gradually, as the time passed, I found the unfamiliar food more and more difficult to eat. I’d probably love it now, but I can remember being delighted when the mum cooked a beef joint, only to feel ill again when I saw it was nearly raw in the middle, after a lifetime of well-done beef.

So I can completely understand them getting other stuff in, either from a shop or swapping with friends. French home cooked food is still probably quite different, so even if you’re a great cook, they may simply feel overwhelmed.

My mother an a language school and host family network when I was a child:teenager. And had 1200+ teenagers staying with host families for the summer. Food being hidden was a common occurrence. Show them where they can put rubbish, tell them that it’s important no food is taken to the bedroom. That they can throw anything they don’t want away in the bin in the kitchen.

We've hosted for years, they ALWAYS swap lunches (and spend all day in Mcdo) their parents also frequently send them with enough food to last the whole trip which they leave in their bag til the last day when they find it and chuck it as it's gone funny.

They're 15. It's three weeks and you're being paid. I don't think hosting is for you. As for your food being fabulous??

It looks like she is more upset about that they may not like her "absolutely fabulous" food.

Not wanting them to bring in other food is bang out of order. They can eat what they want unless they are stealing it. Not wanting them to leave uneaten food rotting in their room is reasonable, have a word with them about disposing of food properly if they need to do so.

You sound utterly unsuited to the role.

You don’t sound very approachable to be honest if you’re getting this offended that someone might not like your food and be swapping it.

i think youre reasonable to not want rotting food in the room and to say something.

I think you’re being unreasonable with your reaction to it eg worried you can’t control your anger about it when discussing it. Why are you so reactive to it? Nothing bad has actually happened. They haven’t done it as a personal slight.
just show them putting it in the bin and check their room more often.

Then think about whether you want to open your home to strangers again if you’re going to get this cross/upset about different standards.

Just remind them where to bin it. We have food waste bins here so I’d be making it very clear I expect anything to be in there and plates etc in the dishwasher

I’m not talking about that, tho, am I? I’m talking about a poster saying she’s disrespecting their privacy, whereas I think she’s well within her rights to go in and clean a room in her own house. Leaving rotten food, especially with the predicted heat for the next few days, is likely to damage paintwork if dropped against a wall/on a carpet.

They are 15. Remind them to put the food in the bin. You being ott to worry about outside food. They in a foreign country alone young.

@Cherrysoup You treat them like your own kids

The OP sounds completely non maternal and the relationship between her and the teenagers staying with her doesn’t sound very remotely like a parental figure. She’s annoyed they’re sourcing any of their own food for god sake! Talk about controlling.

Just to add, I’ve come back from 4 days away with 40 kids in France. I went into their rooms last night to do a room inspection. Was I supposed to trust them to clean properly themselves (hostel type child friendly place, not actually a hotel)? Given the state of one of the en-suite toilets, definitely not!

When I was away with 120 kids last week, I went into their tents, inspected as requested by the camp staff and made them sweep/remove litter/went back, checked again. Quite normal, imo.

If you really want solutions, rather than people to validate what you think you should be doing....

my advice would be to suck it up and say goodbye to them after three weeks.

From a seasoned student host Mum.

Op you most definitely are not a kid back woman as you said ! You would not have made this post atall in the first place and you would not be feeling like having a go at 2 sweet kids over a sandwich left in the room !!!!! That's not laid back. I feel really sorry for them girls they must be cringing every time they come home.

It’s the OP’s home and that’s an utterly ridiculous comment. Is it a ‘huge invasion of privacy’ when staff go into your hotel room to change towels/sheets/clean? She’s being paid to host (if it’s anything like my mum hosting foreign students back in the day. You treat them like your own kids, feed, clean rooms etc. Should she leave rotting food for 3 weeks?

TBF OP, you did say "I'm annoyed they have someone else’s food".

Anyway, I think you've got the idea of what people think you should do.

"Please use the bin for old food - either in your room or bring it downstairs".

Plan to say it when you're heading out so that there isn't awful embarrassment.
I'm sure they know they need to use a bin and it will be quite clear what you mean.

Why are you doing their laundry???

Are you being paid to host them, OP?