How on earth are my kids losing their school uniform??

[MedusasBadHairDay]

At the beginning of term we were asked by the school to make sure the DC's school uniform was washed every day, so I deliberately bought enough that they had a weeks worth of clothes. 5 jumpers each, 5 polo shirts each etc.

And we got into a routine where they would get undressed straight after school, put their clothes straight in the washing basket, and then every 2 days I get everything washed and dried and back into their chest of drawers.

So how on earth is it that this morning they are insisting that they have absolutely no school uniform? I managed to find some items on the bedroom floor, but DD is having to wear one of DS's polo shirts. And I know that I've only got 2 days worth of school uniform in the washing machine. 😫

I can only assume the clothes have ended up hidden scattered around their room, despite there being absolutely no reason for it to have left their drawers. Please tell me I'm not the only one whose kids manage stuff like this?

I have to admit I don't understand how it's got lost in the house?! I've always bought 5 of every item anyway. My kids have never come home clean and I can't be arsed with the rush to wash something in the evening for the following day.

Mine always lose it in school. Even with their names written on the bloody labels. This is why I will only ever buy supermarket uniforms. Everything comes in packs of 2 now as well, so there's plenty to lose!

@HenryHooverIII

I have to admit I don't understand how it's got lost in the house?! I've always bought 5 of every item anyway. My kids have never come home clean and I can't be arsed with the rush to wash something in the evening for the following day.

Mine always lose it in school. Even with their names written on the bloody labels. This is why I will only ever buy supermarket uniforms. Everything comes in packs of 2 now as well, so there's plenty to lose!

Nope, me neither. It makes absolutely no sense. It's beyond frustrating. It shouldn't leave their drawer until they put it on for school, and yet somehow... urgh maybe I should start storing it elsewhere. Going to have to take time to search their room for the missing items first though.

This happens to me too. They had five sets at the start of September. All labelled. We have a routine about taking it off etc. We have had a lockdown - where no uniform was used.

This week - one child has one jumper and the other has none.

At one point I had a keter type 3 drawer unit purely for school uniform, one drawer each.

@Ilovelove

This happens to me too. They had five sets at the start of September. All labelled. We have a routine about taking it off etc. We have had a lockdown - where no uniform was used.

This week - one child has one jumper and the other has none.

I'm kind of relieved it's not just my family.

I have six sets. I wash and iron five sets on a Friday and hang it up on five hangers in the wardrobe, that way I can easily check I have everything and nothing gets caught up with anything else. I'm naturally quite disorganised so I have to invent foolproof systems!

Have you looked everywhere? And I mean literally everywhere like quite far under the bed and behind the wardrobes? You could be surprised.
I accidentally found a pair of DD’s school socks behind TV, she was changing after school in the living room, dancing and throwing things around excitedly.

@greenlynx

Have you looked everywhere? And I mean literally everywhere like quite far under the bed and behind the wardrobes? You could be surprised. I accidentally found a pair of DD’s school socks behind TV, she was changing after school in the living room, dancing and throwing things around excitedly.

That's my plan for this evening, didn't have enough time this morning. Figuring the dressing up box is a likely suspect too.

Have the laundry basket in the hall. They strip old uniform into the basket then get dressed in their room.

Or put the play clothes ready on the hamper so they are in the right place as they undress.

A lot of adult organisation is really challenging for children. They need to be carefully trained into it. If we don't, we end up with hopeless disorganised adult men who can't put washing in the basket!

From former experience, under the bed, at the back of the bottom of the wardrobe, down the side of the bed if it’s against a wall, stuffed into drawers that are supposed to contain something else, stuffed into school bags/PE kit bags, etc. Not to mention under the duvet, near the end of the bed, if it’s not been changed very recently.

I forgot, stuffed into a toy box or dressing up hamper, if they have such things.

DS2 was insistent he had no trousers today.
It was noted DS1's trousers were very short yesterday. On raiding DS1's wardrobe, he had loads of trousers - because he'd been wearing his younger brothers....

@picklemewalnuts

Have the laundry basket in the hall. They strip old uniform into the basket then get dressed in their room.

Or put the play clothes ready on the hamper so they are in the right place as they undress.

A lot of adult organisation is really challenging for children. They need to be carefully trained into it. If we don't, we end up with hopeless disorganised adult men who can't put washing in the basket!

They come in the door, get undressed in the living room, clothes go straight in the washing basket and then into the washing machine. That side all works perfectly.

The problem seems to be somewhere between putting their clothes in their drawer and them putting them on the next day. I can only assume they take loads out at once then don't put back the items they don't wear, which means they just get scattered around the room.

So I may have to get their clothes ready for them every morning, which I'm loathe to do, as I'm trying to get them more used to doing things themselves (they are 7 and 9, so old enough not to need me to select their clothes for them)

@DancesWithDaffodils

DS2 was insistent he had no trousers today. It was noted DS1's trousers were very short yesterday. On raiding DS1's wardrobe, he had loads of trousers - because he'd been wearing his younger brothers....

Mine used to do that trick with polo shirts, so now I buy ones with slightly different collars so they don't get confused (apparently putting their names in them wasn't clear enough)

Not just your house OP, I feel your pain. I bought 2 of those shoe organisers (Wilko) and now each child gets their uniform for one day, in each slot. Trousers, polo shirt, jumper, socks and pants.

Somehow they still manage to lose something and one DC is down to one jumper and one hoodie, from a 6+ mix of jumpers, goodies and cardigans.

Slightly helpful tip - our school allows grey or black trousers - I buy grey for DC1 and black for DC2 so I don't have to scrabble about inside each pair to check the label (they're only one size apart)

DS1 (8) managed to get into DS1’s (5) polo shirt yesterday. He complained it was too tight but got into it and had to be hauled out of it. He’s done this before. It isn’t just your DC.

I want to know where the heck the socks have gone!

It's not like we've been anywhere like holidays/ scout camps to loose a pair here and there.

On a related tangent, how on earth have my forks mutated into random forks? We've had no visitors in the house, not been anywhere requiring taking cutlery. How have random forks turned up out of nowhere? Have the socks been transfigured into forks???

Check in ur duvet covers. I am a housekeeper and Everytime I loose something it always ends up in the bottom of a duvet cover

And we got into a routine where they would get undressed straight after school, put their clothes straight in the washing basket, and then every 2 days I get everything washed and dried and back into their chest of drawers.

So if this was done on Tuesday you should have at least 1 clean set each for today?

@UhtredRagnarson

And we got into a routine where they would get undressed straight after school, put their clothes straight in the washing basket, and then every 2 days I get everything washed and dried and back into their chest of drawers.

So if this was done on Tuesday you should have at least 1 clean set each for today?

Yep, should be. It should be really straight forward. But it's somehow not.

So was it done on Tuesday? Did you wash two full sets for each child and put them in the chest of drawers?

Are they having accidents and hiding them?

Maybe forgetting to go to the toilet or getting pen etc on them.

@UhtredRagnarson

So was it done on Tuesday? Did you wash two full sets for each child and put them in the chest of drawers?

Yep. So should have been ready for them.

And they had a full set to wear yesterday? So between yesterday morning and this morning they’ve taken the uniform out of the drawers and hidden them?