Gawd bloody HS Uniform - Son not enough changes

[Vodkasquirts]

Have practised this scenario since reception 4 pants / 3 shirts
H/School 3 Pants / 4 Shirts
Bloody Year 10 and 3 days in school 3 shirts and 3 pants worn.

Just ad a ago as 1 of each of those would have hung spare until either of others had worn out / or become unfit for purpose.

And DS 14 worn the bloody lot bar 1 shirt in 3 days.

I am so gunna make him iron on sunday.
" I was sweating mum"

MY 2nd post on Mumsnet "Go easy girls"

Ex teacher agreeing with daily showers and daily new clothes plus good deodorant! Dang the kids were fragrant in Summer /shudder.

For sweat smells, I can recommend a spray bottle of white vinegar - spray both sides of the pit area (or wherever stinks) just before the wash and use a longer programme (not just the short eco ones) with 40° temperature. Also don't put to much of a load in, as I find that it doesn't woosh the clothes around enough. :-)

When it is all dry, if you want to know if the shirts/tops are clean, breathe on the fabric up close (as though fogging glasses) and smell - any sweat smell that would only be apparent as the clothes warm up will show itself.

There's nothing quite like the stench of a room full of boys.

I make sure ds washes his pits (showing is too much), puts on deodorant and clean clothes daily. Any ideas on how to get his old shirts back to white would be fab. Ariel stain remover did naff all

Erm, I'm from Manchester and I certainly don't call trousers 'pants' - pants are undergarments, trousers are outerwear.

I use white spirit vinegar, when teen (or other stuff) come out of the first wash with that Eau de Teen smell, I pour vinegar on the armpits, and put them back in the wash for another go with the next load. It's often recommended on the Housekeeping threads.

But in answer to OP's query, 5 shirts per week are necessary for a teenage boy, the same as for a grown man - DH wouldn't dream of wearing the same shirt to work two days in a row, and he showers daily and uses plenty of deodorant.

OP, sorry, but you have a teenaged boy in the house - time to buy more shirts I'm afraid (although he should be able to manage with a couple of pairs of trousers a week).

I teach teenage boys and would say they, and teenage girls, need clean shirts, pants and socks each day as well as a bath or shower each night, boys with short hair washed daily and other hair washed every third night. Then a hand and face wash, squirt of deodorant, hair brush and teeth brush in the mornings.

It´s true that some kids sweat more than others but on the whole schools are quite dirty and general grime and odour accumulates on everyone´s clothing and hair.

P.E. kit also needs to go home on the day of use so that T-shirt, shorts and socks can be washed before the next time they´re needed.

Also wash the schoolbag itself every month - the floors etc. they get put down on can be filthy - if you pop it in the washing machine on 30º on a Friday night or Saturday morning and hang it up in a dry place it will easily be dry again for Sunday night to pack again.

Agree with others who´ve said your son can help with laundry himself at 14 and that school clothes can be hung up wet to avoid ironing.

mummytime Great tip with the vinegar! Thanks.

Forgot to mention the trousers - I´d say 2 pairs is all that´s needed but get him to wear them on alternate days so that when he comes home from school he takes off the pair he´s been wearing that day and hangs them up somewhere to "air out" for 36 hours until the next time he wears them. Then wash both pairs at weekends.

Thanks for the vinegar tips and alternating the trouser, I hadn't thought of that one!

My teen DS has just finished school, but he needed a clean shirt every day. So I had 5 shirts and 3 pants in yrs 8-11. As he was in adult clothes by year 11, I bought 4 shirts and just washed during the week.
Teenagers are smelly. He has a shower every morning, and often had one when he came home from school. After which he'd then put clean t-shirt & jeans on. Every bloody day!!! All I did was wash. Now he's at college and it's just jeans, t-shirts and hoodies.

Though he does now put stuff in the washing machine - though I have to tell him! He doesn't exactly volunteer to help!

My son will help but I have to tell him what to do, which is slower than doing it myself. He leaves his dirty clothes in a pile in the bathroom... half a metre away from the washing basket

My ds 16 left school this time. But would have clean shirt, socks and boxers each day. He had 3pairs of school trousers but would usually only use 2 changing mid week or clean pair if they got mud on them etc.
He would shower each morning before school and 2 evenings after pe.

I don't think 3school shirts are enough. As teenagers get very sweaty.

My family are from Manchester and I have never ever heard any of them, or anyone from/in Manchester say pants and mean anything other than underwear. Unthinkable!

Well all I can say is my 5 children, 7 grandchildren, loads of kids at the schools I have taught at have all called trousers 'pants' and continue to do so. I wonder if it is a north/south of the city divide?!

Underpants: 7 pr but with a couple of extra pr just in case, shirts: one for each day, trousers: 2 or 3 pr.

My DS had one set of cricket whites. He was School Games Captain and wore them every evening for after school activities. Every night he came home wanting them washed, dried and ironed for the next day. He soon learned how to do housework himself!

DSs have 6 shirts and 3 pairs of trousers. I do think they need a new shirt every day.

Although I remember taking DS2 to A&E once when he was 12 and discovering he had been wearing the same shirt for 2 weeks - it was completely grey at the neck and cuffs! Thankfully it was before he got to the smelly age, although I may have noticed before he removed it in A&E if he had smelt. It was rank. The nurse laughed and commiserated with me about teen boys.

And pants are underpants, not trousers.