Step son used my bath towel

[Green0911]

Want to gauge if IABU here.

My and my husband's towels are in the bathroom. Teenage SS keeps his in his room. We each have a hand towel and a bath towel. They all get changed every 3-4 days. When it came to changing them, I realised SS didn't have his towels in his room. He said he'd put them to be laundered a few days before. When I asked him which towels he'd been using in the meantime (he'd showered at least twice during this period), initially he claimed none, then admitted he'd used mine.

I blew a fuse. Couldn't believe he thought this was acceptable. Husband has laughed it off and is accusing me of being dramatic/blowing things out of proportion.

AIBU?

But yes, absolutely this!

Oh. I’m such an idiot 🤦🏻‍♀️

Why do you need your own specific towels though? Just get a fresh one if you like the feeling.

Poor kid.

The only year that my mum did washing on New Year’s Day, her dad died.

Equally as tenuous a ‘link’ which demonstrates that correlation does not equate to causation

Total overreaction. The will be a formative memory for the kid which he will carry for the rest of his life. Seems harsh.

I bet he feels really welcome in your house

You are being dramatic and blowing it out of proportion! When my dc were children we simply had towels, anyone used any towel and I laundered them every few days when I got around to it Now I've moved (divorce) and I have an en-suite so dc when visiting (got rid of all of them, yeah) they have clean towels in the top bathroom though based on the line all hanging over the rail I'm not sure how they knew whose was whose (that's my dc , my dsd and all 3 partners sharing, they lived!)

John Lewis have a special offer on towels at the moment. They have a huge range of colours, too, you could have 15 kids and they could still all have a different colour!

You have every right to be annoyed. I'd feel the same. YANBU. I don't know why you'd want to share someone else's towel. I think that's far stranger than the OP's reaction.

Here we go again, much ado about nothing. I really wonder if some posters on here actively seek out something to moan about.
He used your towel … stop for a moment and realise how utterly ridiculous it is to get in a frenzy over something that really doesn’t matter.
i hope you’ve not caused a big argument over this your OH must despair with you

Fucking hell OP you blew a fuse over this?! you sound an absolute nightmare to live with - your poor SS.

Get over it

I would be annoyed as it's disgusting however wouldn't have blown up.

Since DH and DSS think it's nothing then just let them share towels. Who does the washing? I bet it's you? dont bother let them wash their own and keep yours separate. After all it doesn't matter to them.

If you share a house with someone you are in daily close contact with a whole host of bacteria etc so unless you walk round gowned up in full ppe you will be exposed to all kinds of stuff.

I would try and relax a bit. Maybe download a calm app or something.

Banished from towel rail privileges in the bathroom of his father's house.

He either has little concern for personal hygiene OR has showered twice in 3 days, using your towel, both of the those things cannot be true at the same time.

You are being very dramatic. He wasn’t using the towel to wipe his arse after going to the loo.

Maybe you could issue him with all colour coded items. What about tea towels and dishcloths, is he allowed to use those?

Have you checked that he hasn't got conjunctivitis and/or verrucas?

That would be my concern, that and cholera of course.

Mind blowing thread. One post said 8 or 9 towels to be washed per day - that's about 56-60 towels a week!! How can anyone do that along with all the other laundry. I'm also baffled what people go with their towels with all this tell about 'bits' - presumably genitalia. I just wrap a towel around me loosely after a shower so it is only touching my body in the way a dress or skirt would. I'm not scrubbing away at 'bits.' Would people feel as much disgust at sharing a bathrobe or a t shirt?

Nice swerve.

I feel so sorry for your husband's son. He is his child.

What would you think of a woman if she behaved like this towards your child?

I know it is your system with the towels, but it is bound to end up with someone needing a towel and not having one, then resorting to using a different one. This always happens with towels.

Towels. You want to argue with your husband and his son over towels?

Well, sorry to say, but you shouldn't. You should understand the huge privilege it is, to have someone else's child under your roof. He is a young guy, of course he might need to wash his towel more that once a week!!! He will be more sweaty, have more bodily effusions (.......!) and just want to be clean and want to wash his towel. Why don't you 'allow' him to wash it, then? If he needs? And dry it?

I really feel sorry for him. You should very much consider being more welcoming and kind. Sorry to sound harsh, I don't often post so bluntly on here, but I feel v sorry for him, and for your DH.

FFS. I'm sure plenty of people would rather not share towels with their own DC either, there's no reason to twist this into a stepparent bash.

Bizarre how many people aren’t freaked out by this. It’s not that it’s dangerous or a national Emergency, it’s just that it’s gross and slightly creepy (why didn’t he use his dad’s?).

We each have our own bath towel too, OP, and I’d be a bit 🤢 Why couldn’t he have just asked for a new towel if he’d lost or dirtied his? I wouldn’t want to be wiping my freshly showered body off with a towel some boy had rubbed over his arse and more.

The fact he used the OP’s towel rather than his dad’s seems very deliberate too. He knew he should be using his own towel but didn’t, and then chose to rub himself down with his stepmother’s towel, purposely ‘dirtying’ it. Most boys would use their dad’s towel in that situation. Yuk!

This!

Poor kid. The op blew a fuse over towel use. I wonder how on earth serious issues are dealt with. He'll stop the contact visits as soon as he can at this rate.