Anyone else's teenage son get through 3 or 4 pairs of socks a day...?

[Ponders]

...and never put any of them to the wash? And then moan because he has no socks?

(They get too claggy to be borne another minute apparently. )

I've just done a washload & now discovered 3½ more pairs on his floor aaaaaargh

Why doesn't he just wear one pair a day like normal people?
Make him wash them himself.

More like 3-4 pairs a week unless i hastle him to change them daily!

Oh maryz, thank you - so glad he is not alone in his freakery

The minute my sons walk into the house they shed their socks.
Every time.
Why?
Then put fresh ones on to go out again.
DH does it as well, perhaps it's genetic.
I have a large basket that sits on the boiler to dry socks in. Spend hours pairing them up.
I used to have a system where I bought black for DH, grey for DS1 and Navy for DS2. Didn't work as there are many different shades of each colour.
Now they all have brilliant patterns and colours. Don't know which pair belongs to who though.

If it's 3-4 pairs a day I asusme he's not wearing them

Yes, he's wearing them, honest!

It's as inthesticks & maryz said -

come in, shoes & sweaty socks off, sit about in bare feet for a bit, leave socks in living room

go upstairs & put clean socks on, sit about in those, take them off for a shower & leave them in shower room

pad about barefoot for a bit, put more clean socks on, maybe go out & see friends, come back in, take shoes & sweaty socks off - somewhere in the house, could be anywhere

watch TV, go up to room & do homework or play guitar or talk on FB, feet get cold, put 4th pair of socks on, take those off at bedtime & leave on bedroom floor

(inthesticks, I've started getting those plain socks with patterned/coloured heels, they are fabulous for matching up (or for finding out you've lost a mate in which case you can mis-match quite happily) eg \link{http://www.marksandspencer.com/Freshfeet-Cotton-Contrast-Silver-Technology/dp/B003KA2OS8?_encoding=UTF8&categoryNodeID=43371030&node=66670031&mnSBrand=core&ref=sr_1_5&qid=1285525280&sr=1-5&rh=&page=\these} & they come in plain, single-stripe, multi-stripe etc so you can allocate them to individual sock-wasters)

"DH does it as well, perhaps it's genetic."

Nope.

Male role model.

Once he is over 12, let him take responsibilty for putting them in the washing basket or whatever you use. if not

"I've got no clean socks"

"Oh dear, what a shame. Didn't you put your dirty ones in to wash?"

If DS has no clean ones he'll wear mine, or his dad's, or his brother's if he's home. Sadly the kind of logical discipline that works fine on children doesn't work on elderly teenagers!

I can't wait for him to go to uni. He'll probably take flatmates' socks.

I don't like the sound of that boarding-school communal socks

They dont smell off aerosols do they?

I can't believe this thread:
My 6YO DD puts her dirty clothes in her laundry basket. She also carries her plate into the kitchen and puts it into the dishwasher. When she comes in she puts her shoes on her shelf, and hangs her own coat up.

What on earth is happening in your house? How lazy are these boys?!! What message are you teaching them that it's OK to dump their filthy clothes around the house.... and a woman will pick them up and launder them for them...

Why are you being such a foolish martyr? Were you born with an "S" on your forehead for Slave?

Train your boys properly - it's EASY - get a laundry basket for them. What's all this about them being on FB when there are jobs to do round the house? Pigletjohn - why wait till 12??

They should do their own washing and their own folding and putting away. And more besides: who cleans the bathroom? the kitchen? Who unloads the dishwasher?

Draw up some rules Ponders and stop being a slave to these slobs.
You'll never be able to marry them off if you don't train them NOW - imagine they'll be there slobbing away in their thirties, and you'll be picking up after them..... Yuck!

I think I'll outsource them then my Dh swears by boarding school - but I think the Navy might be better! Midshipman, or cabin boy.

Mine are reasonably well trained and do lots of chores.
DS1 cleans the bathroom and it's DS2s job to do the dishwasher for example. Dirty clothes in general get put in the laundry basket.

The socks is a funny one though. They do tend to fling them when they take them off, so they turn up in odd places behind sofas etc.

Teenage boys are a different species to Six year olds girls (or boys for that matter).

Yep, mine were all angelic little souls at 6 too, zazen

Now my DSs will cook (& shop for it, with their own lists, although the kitchen is generally a bombsite afterwards), empty dishwasher, hoover, shop for me (with my list) & run errands eg to the PO which is always a PITA. They are helpful - they just fling socks!

And here was me thinking that breastfeeding every 2 hours was tough.....

Definitely the Navy then: at least that way they have some pay!!

If it's not in the laundry basket it doesn't get washed. That's my rule, in theory anyway!

well i hope it isnt more sinister if they smell of aerosol and rolled up in a certain way! Otherwise that is disgusting I have two teenage boys and they wash their own clothes and iron. Why are you doing it?

Jeez! My 6yo is made to ut his dirty clothes in the washing basket, and his socks in the sock box. DD (almost 13yo) is a bit lax, but if they aren't in the basket, they don't get washed. From the age of 5yo, they are quite capable (and 2 of mine have SN) of putting dirty washing where it belongs. as to why on earth you are chasing their dirty socks around the house.

As an addendum, yes I realise that teenagers can be..err..less than hygenic (christ my 8yo DS1 is already like this), but it's about how much you let them get away with. Mine soon learn that washing on bedroom floor = no clean clothes, I'm their mum, not their servant!

Haha, reading this and it all sounds so familiar. My son was the cleanest tidiest little angel and then he became a teenager. They are a different species....He drives me nuts a lot of the time but he also makes me smile and the house is quiet without him. Husband is on the verge of a nervous breakdown cos he can never find any socks (that's because they are all in TS's bedroom on the floor along with anyone else's socks which he can find. Maybe it's a foot fetish? doubtful - probs just lazy. I just shut the door and hope nothing grows a body from the detrius on the floor and frightens the wits out of me one dark night!

An explanation (of sorts)

Tony Little, the head of Eton, says the reason we have a national problem of disaffected teenage boys is because our education system insists on treating them the same as girls.
He also points out that to be successful as a mum or as a teacher of a difficult boy, you must focus on only one problem at once.
?The teenage male brain can only cope with one thing at a time,? he says. ?It either switches off or explodes when it?s overloaded.?

Sounds about right

Oh yes! I can send DS2 back up to his room with orders to make the bed, round up dirty washing, collect clean socks for school etc. etc, and he will wander back down 20 minutes later having been sidetracked and done none of them.
Perhaps I should just give one order at a time. The running up and down stairs would be good exercise for him.