Losing stuff at school - how much do your dc's lose

[christywhisty]

Ds Yr 7 keeps losing things.

He lost his school planner (we made him pay for it £5.00)

Pair of trainers which have never turned up.

PE kit including trainers goes missing on a regular basis, although it normally turns up a few days later. (was going to make him pay for the second pair of missing trainers before they turned up)

2 memory sticks. DS does a lot of homework on pc because of dyslexia.

Thankfully has not lost any books , or dinner or train ticket yet. He is getting glasses next week which he won't have to wear all the time, so worried about those even though they are only NHS freebies.

Is this the norm for a 12 year old boy?

completely.
i still have to hand my ds a PEN - he is 15.

planners go missinall the time.

PE kit

money

Some children do lose a lot of stuff (especially dyslexics as disorganisation is linked with that) while others don't. I have one of each and I think both are normal but in different ways.

Argh -- yes, normal.

Lost homework diary = instant detention at dd1's school, so they don't go missing very often. Everything else -- it's open season, PE kit especially. Some of it's scattiness and not putting things away properly, but there are a lot of sticky fingers among the other kids.

I've told dd1 I don't really want to hear about things going missing, she should just go to the second hand uniform cupboard and sort herself out a new whatever it is (£2 a throw) which has reduced the stress factor for me and helps concentrate her mind.

Dd year 7. So far.

1 school coat (uniform - £37 from outfitters - turned up 4 months later)
1 hockey sock
1 pair glasses (also turned up months later)
1 sweatshirt
1 phone.

CW you seem to be describing my 13 year old son. Games kit regularly goes missing, then having bought new trainers etc. it turns up again. He says other people who have lost theirs borrow it and then sometimes it gets returned and sometimes not. I say if you put it in the locker they wouldn't be able to take it.
recently, he found some of his stuff in lost property which he didn't even know he'd lost!

DD1s PE kit turned up 18 months later at the back of a shelf in the PE storecupboard - I was pretty as it was only two months into Year 7 it went missing (so all new uniform) and when we got it back, nothing fitted.
Mind you, I do now have some practically unworn kit for DD2 for next year .

At our school we have a lost property cupboard, anything that gets found ends up there & the kids can go & see if they can find their stuff. If it is named, it is easier to get it back to their forms.
I'd check that everything has his name/form on & that he knows who to see to find out if anything has been handed in. A lot of our kids don't know what to do if something is lost.
Is his disorganisation part of his dyslexia - I know many kids have organisation problems.

Sounds like he is pretty normal then!

They have something called Student Services where lost property goes and he can go and ask there. Last time he lost his pe kit , I rang them up and they said he had been in there everyday that week asking. He found his pe kit in the science room, this week he thinks he left it in French. He forgot to look today (can forgive him as he had to go see HM, he was told he will be his House Captain for Lower School in September

They all have their initials printed on their shorts and tops so it would be pretty obvious if someone else was using them.

Never sure about the disorganisation is part of his dyslexia or normal child thing. DH is probably undiagnosed dyslexic and he super organized, whereas I am the opposite

A good tip for memory sticks is to get one attached to a lanyard and tie it onto his bag, then he can't lose it.

What sort of school bag does he have? Over summer I would suggest spending some time with him talking about being organised, and sorting out his school bag/getting a suitable one. If, for example, he always has to have planner/pencil case out in a lesson: then they should have a special front pocket all of their own, which they always go into.

PE kit is harder as it isn't a regular routine. Does he know when it goes missing? Does he leave it in classrooms? Are some of his mates playing silly beggars? Does he have a locker? Can you talk to him about routines around returning his kit to his locker asap after PE lesson?

I am dreading this when ds1 starts secondary next term, as he's not great at organising himself/remembering stuff!

Thanks Roisin, like the idea for the memory stick.He keeps leaving his PE kit in classes, he used to leave it in his locker, but for some reason is reluctant to do it now, I think his locker is quite away from pe and he can't be bothered.