To ask if this is typical of all teens?!

[StockingShocking]

Ainu to ask if this is all teen boys (maybe girls too but I only have a boy!)

This is my washing basket after telling DS (15) he couldn’t go out until he’d PROPERLY tidied his room…

Any guesses as to how many pairs he found?! And what do your teens ‘collect’ in their rooms?

confusedenvygrin

Yes both girls and boys. It’s easier to dump it in the wash basket than hanging it up!

Don't sweat the small stuff.

Just out of the teen years- bedroom tidyness has been very low on the agenda. Doors were invented for a reason.
Embargo on on old food and a call out for crockery/glasses.
Otherwise I can't see a problem.
If dirty clothes lie about then they don't get washed.
Quite simple.

@speakout oh, no problem! Just found it quite funny! Wondered what others hoard or if they are all partial to a mountain of socks!

Yes usually socks and joggers and then has the audacity to complain that he hasn't any clean socks.
My answer on repeat is always you could always do it yourself.

At least look like they match. My ds would have as many but all different colours and no knowing where the companion has wandered off to. Day l throw them out out pops the other one!! Very annoying

I remember being that age and not being able to walk across my bedroom floor because of the rubbish on it.

I don’t do any washing for my son unless it is in the washing basket in his room.

Sadly he is allergic to dust and he can’t actually clean his room. So I have to do it and we have to wait an hour before he can go back in. But his room is normally a mess. So perfectly normal

Hah! Yes - mine volunteered to clear his floor recently because he had run out of pants...

@speakout love the "doors were invented for a reason" comment😁 I have 3 teenage girls, in various degrees of slobbery. Their floors collect, underwear, empty cans, chocolate wrappers, make up, earrings(ouch), crockery (usually growing penicillin), scissors (!), Basically anything that's gone missing from downstairs turns up amidst their junk. The teenage brain is a bizarre thing but I'm aware how delicate it is too, I try not to moan cause they are good kids

Bobbles, everywhere..on the floor, in the bathroom. Bobbles!! If I need one I just look on her bedroom floor!

I picked up 12 empty bottles of water from my teens bedroom floor today!!! Both of their bins were full so I’m assuming they thought the floor would do. They live like pigs!!

No not all. I lose the plot with messy rooms so my teens are both clean and tidy. I imagine there are a few odd socks under the bed though.

It passes.
Maintaining relationship with teens is far more important than a messy room.
They also need control over their space. If they want to live in a pit then fine- that's their domain.
My teens wer polite, respectful, always let me know where they were and what time they were coming home.
Worked hard at school, had good friends.
They only experimented a little with alcohol, didn't shoplift or get into trouble at school. Teachers always gave them glowing reports and they were a joy to be around. Our home was filled with laughter and gentle voices.
Their rooms were pits. Especially my DD. I rarely saw the carpet. It could have become an area of conflict but the bigger picture was more important to me.
My DD now lives in a flat with a friend and her place is immaculate.

@junebirthdaygirl

At least look like they match. My ds would have as many but all different colours and no knowing where the companion has wandered off to. Day l throw them out out pops the other one!! Very annoying

You throw out socks because the companion is missing? Why can't he wear socks of different colours?

Oh believe me they wear socks of different colour but sometimes l have so many odd socks..its really bad in our house..l dump a pile of them and hey presto the match appears.

My dd got very cross this morning as she couldn't find her work trousers. Turns out they were still on her bedroom floor from last week. Then she got cross that they were dirty and she would have to wear a pair that aren't so comfortable. Not my problem I'm afraid. I only wash clothes from laundry bins.

My strategy was making them do all their own clothes washing. Didn't take them long to get to grips with.
They still live in squalor but I just close the door!

@TillyTottenham- my son always wears odd socks. I just can’t- if they feel slightly different it sets me back for the whole day . Luckily I’m tidier than he is.

Think yourself lucky that the socks were ready to wash - my teens put them in a scumpled ball every time despite me asking often for at least 4 years whether they'd like to have to put their hands through my dirty washing to have to straighten it out

@speakout

Don't sweat the small stuff.

Just out of the teen years- bedroom tidyness has been very low on the agenda. Doors were invented for a reason.
Embargo on on old food and a call out for crockery/glasses.
Otherwise I can't see a problem.
If dirty clothes lie about then they don't get washed.
Quite simple.

This. It's a battle that can't be won so I've started telling my 15 year old that unless you put dirty clothes in the wash basket, I cannot and will not wash them. Yes, I occasionally weaken and he occasionally complains he has no clean clothes but he's getting there. Tbh, I don't find the amount of clothes littering his bedroom floor the least bit funny!

I once counted 17 pairs of dirty knickers that my 12 year old daughter had neglected to take to the washing basket. They're all disgusting.

I have to use rock climbing equipment to get into one of my ( older) teenagers bedroom. I tend to just avoid going in now.

My DD was like that...she had a "floordrobe" it drove me mad until my DF put it into perspective. "One day that messy room will be an empty room, grit your teeth and don't stress too much about it,". Wise words dad, wise words.

I thought that was a photo of a bucket of coal :)

DS had a couple of years of being a bit grim from 14 to 16 as his hormones kicked in. It was like my lovely boy had been abducted by aliens. He improved and then became fully functioning when he got a girlfriend aged 17.

I refused to go in his room and made him do his own washing, I would hang it up though. If he ran out it was tough. He always had his cadet uniform washed and beautifully pressed though regardless of what was on the floor.

My mum reminds me of the piles I had in my room. Basically I'd stack things into towering piles so it created a maze you had to walk through

They made it to the basket eventually

I can ask my teen to sort his washing and I could still go in his room and find random socks

I refuse to pick up any pants though