Children constantly losing school uniform, book bags etc

[Jobseeker19]

I'm losing the plot having to keep hunting for things and replacing lost items.

Before I would tell them to hang up their uniform as soon as they came home but I would still find bits and pieces around their room so now the rule is to fold up your uniform and put it in the uniform basket (except for dirty items). And bags in the hallway cupboard.

But still, today, my son says he cannot find his tie which means detention. We looked everywhere and I kept repeating myself "Why didn't you put it in the basket!?".

My daughter is the same but she is 5 years younger and ends up finding things in her tray at school most of the time. (I will have to replace her book bag that she lost last week and her tie too.)

Do I have to take an inventory everytime they come home from school or has someone cracked the system and can help me please?

Excuse my terrible spelling please

Bump

I have 4 kids so them losing stuff could cost a fortune so yep, I took jumpers/ties lunchboxes etc anything which could be lost or forgotten I checked they had them on leaving or they went back in to school to find them then they were checked in to the house. Just gentle reminders and encouragement to remember as they knew I’d be upset to have to pay for new items if they were careless.

X4 children it’s expensive so I am quite organised and make sure they have what they need but they also care for it. It’s exhausting and there are consequences for losing things. One of my sons also lost a tie, so he bought a new one, funnily enough he’s made sure he doesn’t lose it again!!

How are these things named? I only asked but because in my school lost property is a monumental problem, mainly because people either don’t name things or the scribble names on in biro or sharpie that then wear off. At this point many of the iron on name tapes have started to peel off. Staff just don’t have time to decipher difficult to read half faded names. The stuff with clear (often sewn in) name tapes is easy to return to the owner everything else joins the pile.
The bigger the name the better, although I appreciate that older children don’t tolerate this is in the way little ones do!

For stuff like ties lost in the house you could try a fine system. You hold a spare a charge a rental fee for each day used. If not found within the week they cough up for a replacement!

Basically, yes, you need to run an inventory (I’m assuming they’re quite little - if they’re teenagers I’d just leave them to face the school consequences). I check on pick up that the children have everything they went to school with and I’ll send them back in until it’s all there. They are slowly learning to run this check themselves before they leave the classroom as it’s easier than having to keep running back. Everything is name labelled to within an inch of its life. In five school years between them we have only lost one pair of cheap multipack gloves and a few hair clips.

They put all their uniform in the wash and book bags go in the hallway bookbag basket. Lunchboxes immediately into the kitchen, cleaned out and put in the dishwasher. If ties kept getting lost here I’d take them off the children immediately on pick up and hand them back as we left the front door in the morning.

Are you taking about secondary or primary aged kids? Maybe it's not a bad thing to get a detention so he's more mindful of where his tie goes. In my ds case he keeps it in his blazer pocket like everything else that's important

One is in secondary and two are in primary. Everything is labelled.

In secondary, teach them to run their own system. So, if they've got five items to remember, it's a five item day. Every time they go to move from somewhere, they must count those five items before they do so. If they take off a tie, for instance, it becomes an additional item.

Once they're in the habit they won't lose anything again.