re DS and his school/winter coat

[aPseudonymToFoolHim]

DS (9) "lost" his school coat. It hasn't been seen since after school on Monday.

Today I discovered it poking out of a snow drift in the back garden, where he had dumped it to play on the trampoline.

Brilliant! :)

Except....it LOOKED like an extra large blackberry had been left on his jacket, but it turns out that a cat had done it's business on it.

WIBU to make him clean it off, wash it in the machine, and continue to wear it through the rest of the winter?

Because HE thinks I am!

MN jury, I leave the decision to you :)

YANBU. Of course he should wear a perfectly good coat for the rest of the winter. He's lucky you are prepared to wash the cat shit off it too!

My coat fell in the litter tray. I stuck it in the washing machine so not an issue. YANBU

I am not sure which bit he finds unreasonable, the bit where HE has to clean it off (this won't take too long really) or the bit where he has to continue wearing it?

Either way YANBU

BOTH, Bejeena!
If went nuts at each instruction!
:)

Give him option 3 then - he buys new coat out of his pocket money? Or instead of having Easter eggs this year?

YANBU.
Bejeena how much do you spend on Easter eggs??

I wouldn't make a child clean shit off of anything, sorry.

I would want it cleaned properly so I would do that part.

Keep coat, but don't let a child clean off cat shit, an adult should do that.

99p wouldn't buy him a new coat, Bejeena!

He has cleaned it off, as a matter of principle, I will make sure it's thoroughly done by going over it myself, and it will go in the machine a couple of times.

As BeerTricks said, actions have consequences, and hopefully he'll think twice now before dumping expensive clothes in the garden. For maybe a week, at least!

HDee, my daughter cleans shit up everyday, she begged to have pets, and that's part of the responsibility she took on. :)

It would be utterly freaky if I found cat muck on random cloth item left in the garden (saying that with my 2 outdoor cats & a fair few visitors). I wouldn't expect a child to be able to anticipate it. (And no foxes here).

My kids' coats are hand-me-downs & charity shop bargains so not expensive, guess I'm lucky there, too.

I don't think it's U at all to insist he at least try to clean the mess up, but I don't know if I could be as forceful about it as OP feels.

Kids shouldn't be touching cat shit.

Of course kids shouldn't be touching cat shit but at 9, and in the circumstances described where a relatively high value item had been lost then I wouldn't have any qualms about equipping him with a pair of rubber gloves, a big wadge of kitchen roll, a bag ready to pop everything into and so on. He'd need to be supervised I think, for hygiene, and reminded to wash his hands in the gloves (so they're cleaned) and then without after but yes, agree it'd be a fair lesson in not being so careless.

But why not, seriously? They just wear a plastic bag on hand just like I do. And wash afterwards. Toxoplasmosis is less risky than the common cold for most of us. It's only shit.

He's more likely to come into contact with toxoplasmosis playing football/ rugby on the school playing fields than removing cat shit from his coat using gloves/ plastic bags to protect his hand. I'd also have given him the 3rd option of funding a new coat himself but he would have had to deal with the consequences of leaving it outside.

He's 9. He's quite old enough to cope with the consequences of being so careless with his clothes. I don't think anyone is suggesting he cleans the cat shit off with his toothbrush, either, but provided he has gloves or a plastic bag on his hands (which are washed properly afterwards!) then he'll be fine.

Ywnbu at all.

He left it outside so its makes sense that he then cleans it as its his fault it got dirty. He could wear gloves and then you can check.its properly clean.

I make my boys clean up.their own wee drips/splatter from the loo seat etc. Even my four yr old can get a bit of loo roll and wipe up drips and then wash his hands and ds2 stood in dog poo this week, je cleaned his shoes and then dp checked and gave them.another wipe over.

YADNBU. He's old enough to clean it up himself. I doubt he'll leave it outside again!