Am I being mean to do this?

[QueueCue]

Ds is in year 5. Since September he has lost two sets of pe shirts at school.
I refused to buy another pair and said he'd have to take his own shorts in which are the same colour as the school shorts but adidas....he lost them after one pe session.

I refused to buy another pair and asked him to contribute £5 from his own money to buy another pair of school pe shorts. Which he did. I thought maybe he'd take more care of them seeing as he'd paid towards them....he lost them after one session.

All these shorts are named and I've looked in lost property myself and they're not there. He has a locker so his pe kit is locked away when he's not wearing it.

Aibu to buy another pair of school shorts and embroider his name, in a bright colour to the outside of the shorts on one of the legs? No one can possibly take them then can they? And if they did by accident, surely they'd get back to him?

Or of course the person getting changed next to him picks up both pairs of shorts by accident and whoever does the washing at just doesn't bother saying anything about returning it or rips out the label.

are you sure he's not being bullied?

I used to just write DS's name in sharpie on everything (not on the labels, as they could be cut off) as otherwise uniform walked. He doesn't appear scarred by this.

But that's my point Giles. A child that has now lost several pairs of shorts should take them off, immediately put them in his gym bag and then straight into the locker.

Yes some sensible initials permanently marked in an obvious place are the way to go.

He has a lanyard which all the dc have for their locker key so I can only assume they are being picked up by accident or on purpose in the changing rooms.

I really don't think he's being bullied as he's not punished for not having shorts...but I will ask him later.

Yes he can be a bit dopey but his football boots and trainers haven't been stolen (Nike and adidas) so I think whether the shorts are taken on purpose or by accident the parents or the dc don't care enough to return. You can't come home with other people's shoes without an explanation but shorts you could prob get away with

Depends on the set up doesn't it.mayve they have to undress then shower and maybe the lockers are upside the pe changing room so they can go on the bag but not in the locker.

There's obviously something that's giving a "window" op will have to find out what it is it may not be something he can help so in that instance hardly fair to blame him fir someone nicking his stuff

He doesn't get into trouble for losing his shorts. It's just frustrating they're not being returned.

I can't sharpie them really as they're navy

Never heard of bleach pens. Where do you get them from?

Maybe he should get in trouble for losing multiple pairs of shorts.

That might help focus his mind.

Put tipex all over them - no rule saying they have to be clean

Ask the office to text parents in his class asking then to check. Will probably be fruitless but worth a try. This happens all the time better get used to it I think people do keep them on purpose, which is very annoying.
I would second definitely see his name onto the outside of future pe clothes. My DS high school gets pe kit printed with names for this reason.

Kids pick stuff up by accident, kids parents keep them from experience, this was a regular occurrence. We even had jumpers and shorts and even coats come in on another kid and we would check labels and identify to Mum that they had x jumper on, Mum would say oh I will wash and return but the jumper would reappear with label cut out.

To some parents the lost property is fair game too.

With Ds1, I used bright red embroidery cotton and sewed a big X on the hems of all his clothes for school. It really helped him keep track of them

I used to sew my kid's names on the outside of their pe kits, a lot of parents did it and fewer things went missing.

Now I'm mad.....ds had pe today. He took in his pe t shirt, school hoody and tracksuit bottoms (all pe listed uniform) and he's had a DETENTION because he didn't have his shorts.

I've bought him some shorts today. His others were taken last Wednesday.

Aibu to be cross?
I'm stitching his name in them tonight

When I was at school it was compulsory to have your name embroidered on the outside of you PE kit. I can't recall anyone ever losing their kit. Maybe suggest it to the school.

Switch to plain non branded primark shorts. They'll soon stop disappearing

One of my DC used to lose his school baseball hat all the time. (Overseas school). I used to get so mad st him as they were expensive. However he used to insist it wasn't his fault. Eventually I paid to get them embroider with his name showing on the outside......and they completely stopped going missing.
I then did the same for everything he owned 😂 It was cost effective

I also sharpie'd them and I would have used a bleach pen if I'd known about them .

I don't think you can say they were "taken" my assumption would be be is being lazy and not caring. He can easily take them off, put them in his one bag and put them in his locker. He's clearly not doing that.

Even if he is being lazy and uncaring which I don't agree he is-he is dopey at times- surely the parents and other dcs should hand them back ?

I use permanent marker on the inside sleeves and legs of everything expensive. Put tags all over as well. That said things get lost on or field and then presumably blown away...

He has lost several pairs of shorts, he should be looking after them, if a detention makes him realise this, then isn't that a good thing?

I would be interested to know whether he continues to lose his shorts following detention.

He has to take responsibility for this.

You do realise that some kids never lose kit? It's not luck.

They can't go missing now surely?