Do I really have to iron the school shirts?

[ThirdChildFourthPile]

DS is going to secondary school so it's proper shirts, ones that appear to need ironing.

I've just ironed 4 of them and I hate it. There must be another way?

I'm crap at it, I don't like doing it, and it makes me really hot.

Is there a magic spray or a trick that means I never have to see the iron again?

We get non iron shirts here too.

My children are natural scruff bags (like me!) so half an hour after putting a shirt on it is dirty and crumpled even if they've only been watching tv doesn't matter if I've ironed it or not by the time they get to school!

Only time we tend to iron them is when they are new out of the pack- you can't seem to wash out those creases! I wash them and make sure the spin is not too high, give them a vigorous shake out and hang up. Then one wears a jumper over them and the other a blazer so you can't really see any creases. Not to mention that after a few weeks they've already got mysterious stains that won't wash out

And my children have needed a new shirt every day since they started reception! They have white shirts FFS! Trousers/shorts/blazers get washed when they are visibly dirty (or after about 3 days if no visible dirt).

DS1 is just about to go into Y5 and I'm going to expect showers three times a week minimum plus deodorant. He doesn't really need it yet (late developer) but he comes from a line of heavy sweaters!

They are secondary aged children. They can iron their own.

Omitted to mention the ten blue polo tops for the 2 x primary school dc!!

I’m quite scruffy and have low standards generally but many children really do need a clean shirt everyday. The ironing matters less than being clean especially in the warmer weather. I used to work in school and children can be quite whiffy by the end of the school day!

Children need to bath or shower and to wear clean clothes every day. Pity the poor teachers with a classroom full of 30 DC!

I buy non iron shirts for DS1 (Y8 now) and just dry them on hangers if I can't get them on the line. He's not allowed to take his blazer off anyway so sod ironing the bits no one will see!

DS2 (now Y2) wears white polo shirts (don't iron those either unless really creased) and has just about reached the blissful age where he doesn't need a fresh shirt every day due to food/paint/mud stains.

There's a blissful age where they stop being so grubby and can wear shirts for two days, plus only need bathing every couple of days. It is a brief phase though as by Y4/5 (for DS1 anyway) they reek of BO if they don't shower and change shirts daily. I still argue about this every single day with DS1 and he's almost 13 ffs! What age do they start spending all day preening themselves in the bathroom? I end up having to be extremely blunt and downright rude sometimes to get him to accept he smells/is greasy and it makes me feel awfully mean. He'd happily shower once a week given the option though which is not socially acceptable!

Haha at those who say teenagers don't smell.

I used to have a very boy-heavy yr 11 group last thing (boys do smell worse than girls, maybe because they are more likely to play footy at lunch) and one week I left the room briefly after they had gone, then went back in and whew! I was knocked back by the smell! Not even BO, more just general smell of warm human. Makes no difference in winter either as the classroom is so warm. Please, a clean shirt and underwear daily, I don't care if you don't iron tho, scruffy is OK (for others' kids haha) bit not smelly.

I really dont get this " I dont iron life is to short" thing.. To me thats like saying " life is to short to bother to look nice" ..

As for teenage boys yes they have a smell. I have never met one who hasn't .. its not really swet it is like @Clary says "warm human" They do need a fresh shirt on daily. I wear one too as does Dh to me that is just being clean.

Fresh sort daily as hormones are surging but ironing is wasted on teenage boys. Their blazer covers it almost completely and body heat does the rest. Shaking from the tumble driers renders ironing virtually redundant- don’t buy teenagers double cuff, heavy cotton shirts.

I really dont get this " I dont iron life is to short" thing.. To me thats like saying " life is to short to bother to look nice" ..

Well everyone has a different definition of what looks nice. Some people dye their hair and put on makeup and high heels every day to 'look nice'. Some of us don't like the fake look.

I would iron a dress for a posh event but day to day I wear comfortable clothes that don't need that level of maintenance. The DC don't care if their shirts are ironed so why should I bother. When they are old enough to care they will be old enough to do their own.

My 4yo DD is starting reception and I've just spent the evening ironing shirts. She seems to be going to one of the very few primary schools that still have proper shirts and not just polos!

My teen children shower daily and wear deodorant, and do not smell. They don't need a clean shirt daily for smelliness reasons. They do, however, often need clean shirts daily due to spills/ink/mud/general grime etc. But a shirt that managed to escape dirt or staining could be worn a second day, and will still smell fresh. Generally I'd say they get through 3-4 clean shirts each per week.

Anyone who has a teenager who showers properly daily and wears deodorant and still smells bad really needs to make a GP appointment, that is not normal at all. (If they don't shower properly daily or are lax with their deodorant wearing, then yes, they will naturally smell - I suspect some of the PPs teenage son's shower/deo hygiene may not be as good as they think if they are getting so whiffy!).

I don't iron school shirts - DH does it when he irons his work shirts. If it was left to me, I'd probably do the drying on a hanger approach, with perhaps a quick once over of collar and cuffs if needed.

“I really dont get this " I dont iron life is too short" thing.. To me thats like saying " life is to short to bother to look nice" ..”

Yes, exactly, no one cares if primary age children have crease free shirts or ‘look nice’. I don’t and they don’t. Generally I don’t spend any time trying to make me or my children ‘look nice’. Who are we all trying to look nice for? We are clean and wear clean clothes (one shirt a day for kids etc). Different folk care about different things, and ‘looking nice’ is simply not high up my agenda. Being clean and not smelling is.

M&S ultimate non iron school shirts really are just that. Wash, tumble, hang on hanger, perfect!

I have 2 ds's in secondary, I iron once a year unless really needed to get the creases out from being folded in the packaging! Also don't have a clean shirt everyday as it's not needed, they're 13 and 15 and their shirts don't smell after a days wear

@CountFosco
What I feel you are saying there is it is more about priorities not about " life being short" Some wont see the need but others will. Hence I dislike the " life is to short" comment. In so many other areas in life are we encouraging acceptance of different ways to do things. Why can we not in this? Some of us prefer stuff ironed and feel that makes it look nicer. Others do not. it is not about life being short it is to do with how each of us sees things.

Taught my ds to iron at 11 and have taught my dd this summer now she is 11. It is a life skill like cooking, cleaning and managing money. I started to iron at 11 because I felt sorry for my working mum having all the ironing to do.

@Enko I think you're arguing over semantics. Saying life is too short for ironing is not a comment on how you spend your time, if you like ironing go ahead and fill your boots, all it means is the person who said it doesn't think ironing is a priority.

@CountFosco call it what you wish I am simply stating I do not agree with this.

Assault shirts shake and hang.Taught DD to iron for secondary school as I do t iron if I can help it.She found thatIwas telling the truth about creases dropping out under a jumper and now only occasionally irons the collars.
She us quickly learning not to iron,I am so proud of her.

Don't iron shirts or Poli shirts here. They do look a bit crumpled but I don't care enough to iron then
If DS starts to care ,I will show him how to iron them. He really does need a clean one each day though. (13 yes old and way into puberty already). I have to nag him relentlessly to shower every day, otherwise he most definitely smells, particularly this summer.

Give them a good shake and hang them up in the shower room (keep a bunch of coathangers in there to speed things up). They will get steamed out. No, not quite as good as ironing but who cares? They don't have to look perfect.

Or find an ironing service.

"Don't understand why people are so lazy that they cba to make sure their DC look smart at school hmm. Always feel a bit sorry for the DC in off colour crumpled shirtssad and trousers without a crease. There are plenty of them nowadays as basic housekeeping skills like ironing seems to be a thing of the past. No excuse for crumpled kids really. We have more labour saving devices in most other areas than any other generation."

Oh, for goodness' sake. People have different priorities. Perhaps the non-ironing family spends more time doing educational activities and maths practice and reading with their kids and thinks you are the lazy ones? At the end of the day, people have busy lives and we all make different choices about how to use our limited time, and for the most part the kids turn out perfectly OK.

I'm not bothered about whether people iron shirts or not, but i think those saying teenagers who require a clean shirt every day need to go to the doctors are going a bit far. Not the best use of the NHS