Summer students disrespectful of my home.

[CleanCityBird]

Hi everyone,
ive 2 students staying with me, both 15 from France. They’re doing a 3 week language course.
Cleaning their room I found old stale sandwiches, partially rotted, yogurts, pastries. The thing is, apart from the yogurt. This isn’t the food I’ve prepared for them.Its someone else’s.
they’ve been here 2 weeks now, & all in all, they’re great kids. Up & out in the morning ( one has said she’s sick 2 out of 10days tho). They’re polite, sweet Girls.

Im annoyed that they left food to rot, it can cause all sort of problems. Im annoyed they have someone else’s food, and im annoyed because it’s disrespectful to my home.
I’ve cut them some slack because they are so young, taking more of a caring role, doing their laundry, cleaning their bathroom.
they’ll be home around 9ish tonight & I have to have a word with them.
i don’t want to upset them but I do want to get the message across that it’s not on.
I’m so annoyed I’m afraid I will over react with them. Any guidance from seasoned student host Mums might have would be greatly appreciated! ❤️

I don't think they have additional needs. They are young and preoccupied/ lazy.

A simple " Please don't leave food in your rooms, use the bin, Thanks"

Wrong wrong wrong.
They are 15. Not adults.
If I was making them clean their own room & change their beds and hoover the floor I’d be accused on being an Ugly Stepsister.
I go in to clean. Which is the RIGHT thing to do.

Food is eaten in the kitchen in our house. The end.

No it’s a huge invasion of privacy.

Have you asked them what they want in their packed lunch? What do they eat for lunch at home?

They're French children. Pastries, good quality but slightly stale French bread sandwiches. Croissants with full cream hot chocolate. Give them the French equivalent of junk.
Just don't let them eat in or take food into their rooms. No need to be cross, or they will be even more secretive.

If they’re leaving it to rot in their bedrooms they don’t like the other food either.

Just tell them to knock it off. The first stop when they get in is the kitchen, bags are emptied and food goes in the bin.

Its three weeks. Take a deep breath, it’ll be over soon.

And what does that add to this scenario
presumably your familiar & familial group eat in the kitchen
They are exchange students away from home,her home,her rules aren’t their Norm and are unfamiliar

Well I mean it could be worse… we had a student from China come and stay with us once and we couldn’t work out why her room smelt absolutely awful. When we went in to clean it we opened one of the drawers and found a whole chicken carcass that had been stripped to the bone 😳 she’d been picking at it over several days. How she didn’t become seriously unwell I will never know. (And we were providing cooked meals etc etc).

When you say you’re worrying you’ll over react with them, my advice would be… just don’t!
You can bring it up without over reacting or upsetting them. Just say something along the lines of “girls I’m loving having you here, I hope you’re having a great time, thank you for being amazing house guests, can I just ask one thing of you though, please can you make sure any food waste/packaging goes in the bin?” Like you say, they’re young, they won’t have thought anything of it. They sound like good kids. It doesn’t need to be blown out of proportion :)

If they are only there for 3 weeks I wouldn't even go in there tbh. It's their space for 3 weeks you can give it a big clean once they are gone. Leave them alone and let them eat what they want. Just say NICELY please don't leave any food in the room.

That's disgusting 🤢

Tell them to put uneaten food in the bin. Don't worry about the lunches. If you're so certain about what's Right and 'Wrong wrong wrong' and disinclined to listen to other opinions, why bother asking advice on a forum?

Why are you being so arsey? Just say “ Please don’t let food rot in the room..here’s the bin” I don’t see what the problem is that you’ve come he to resolve

@Zone2NorthLondon but they are in her home, therefore her rules apply. My kids friends may be allowed to tramp their muddy shoes upstairs in their own houses, but they’ll take them off at my front door. they may eat in their own bedrooms, but in my house they’ll eat in the kitchen. They may swear in their own house, but they won’t in mine.
do you let child guests behave as they like in your house?

The language school that I host for tells us to regularly check the rooms in case of any damage or other problems. It’s much easier to sort things while the students are here than to wait until they have gone home. They know the rooms will be checked so it isn’t an invasion of privacy at all. In this particular situation I would tell them not to take food to their rooms and to put any food waste in the kitchen bin. I bet they wouldn’t leave food waste in their rooms at home.

I saw all the OP's 'wrong wrong wrongs' and thought SHE was the 15 year old.
Couple with her apparent lack of common sense. All she needs to say is what @Sidebeforeself has stated. Simple. Factual.

And these students are only here for 3 weeks. Good lord.

Are you sure you're a grown up, old enough to host children OP?

More twit than wit.

Are you being paid to host them, OP?

Why are you doing their laundry???

TBF OP, you did say "I'm annoyed they have someone else’s food".

Anyway, I think you've got the idea of what people think you should do.

"Please use the bin for old food - either in your room or bring it downstairs".

Plan to say it when you're heading out so that there isn't awful embarrassment.
I'm sure they know they need to use a bin and it will be quite clear what you mean.

It’s the OP’s home and that’s an utterly ridiculous comment. Is it a ‘huge invasion of privacy’ when staff go into your hotel room to change towels/sheets/clean? She’s being paid to host (if it’s anything like my mum hosting foreign students back in the day. You treat them like your own kids, feed, clean rooms etc. Should she leave rotting food for 3 weeks?

Op you most definitely are not a kid back woman as you said ! You would not have made this post atall in the first place and you would not be feeling like having a go at 2 sweet kids over a sandwich left in the room !!!!! That's not laid back. I feel really sorry for them girls they must be cringing every time they come home.

If you really want solutions, rather than people to validate what you think you should be doing....

my advice would be to suck it up and say goodbye to them after three weeks.

From a seasoned student host Mum.

Just to add, I’ve come back from 4 days away with 40 kids in France. I went into their rooms last night to do a room inspection. Was I supposed to trust them to clean properly themselves (hostel type child friendly place, not actually a hotel)? Given the state of one of the en-suite toilets, definitely not!

When I was away with 120 kids last week, I went into their tents, inspected as requested by the camp staff and made them sweep/remove litter/went back, checked again. Quite normal, imo.