Do your teens stuff empty food packets around their room?

[Jasmineforever]

Ds(15) stuffs empty food packets, sweet wrappers etc. Down the back of his bed, under his desk etc. He has a bin but he never empties is so once it's overflowing, he's too lazy to bring it downstairs so just shoved it where ever he feels like it.
It drives both Dh and I mad and we do pick him up on it but where I feel it's normal, irritating teenage behaviour, Dh thinks it's completely abnormal. Who is right? Please tell me about your teens.

Haha! Sounds about right!

DS doesn’t hide rubbish but just leaves it anywhere in his room, desk, chest of drawers, window sill, floor, down the side of the bed. I bloody HATE his room it’s like a shit tip and I try to go in there as little as possible - perhaps I’m just a shit mother ?

I feel your pain ☹️

DS is 16 btw so perfectly capable of being a normal person, oh, and is always extremely well groomed and dressed when in public

Yep. Ds3still does it, and he turns 21 this year - and its not just wrappers either.

Best finds were two Morrison’s white chocolate cookies still in the baker box, months out of date - they still looked entirely edible, two processed cheese slices still wrapped in plastic, no idea how long they had been there (I didn’t buy them and ds3 couldn’t remember - that’s how long it had been) but they wer still bendy and fresh looking, and a bottle of smoothie that was fermenting and looked like it was about to explode.

It is just as well I love him, manky sod.

Thank you! Dh is back tracking now!😂

No, but then they don't eat food in their rooms. Bins are emptied on a schedule so no chance of overflowing.

At the end of the day it is about expectations and teaching them what is acceptable and what isn't. Like when you teach them not to pick their nose in public or put their hands inside their pants for a good old scratch.

My 12 year old tries to leave stuff ie plates on the breakfast bar from breakfast etc, all I do is make sure I call him to do it mid-game/play to teach him if he did it when he should have I wouldn't be now spoiling his fun.

My eldest son is 15 and his room is very tidy because he has a place for worn it once stuff inside a wardrobe, and I laid down expectations when he was younger. He had a list of stuff to do every morning such as make his bed, open his curtains etc. And I enforced it.

I know it sounds sanctimonious but you start young. It is like when they start primary school, they have to collect their own lunch and then return the tray, cutlery and glass. But I know Mums who still clear an entire table after dinner and their child is 10!

Yes both older dc do it. Yuck

Yes, both of mine do.
They used to keep their rooms tidy, and their bins clear, before they hit puberty, but it's all gone to pot now they have their own spending money.
They buy snacks, eat them in their rooms, and leave the wrappers in or near the bin or bed.
No amount of "reminding" will get them to empty said bins or floors, the only thing that seems to work is when they have friends over. Then I remind them that their friends will see the filth they live in, and they up their game for that day.
I encourage them to have friends visit every few weeks, it keeps the room carnage from becoming a biohazard at least!

Sweets only. I don’t let them eat real food in there. Theee sons

Ewww. Nobody eats in bedrooms here. That's minging.

We found 3 crisp packets behind our sofa yesterday!
Dd is 16 and immaculately dressed and groomed!

Those who say no eating in rooms, can I ask how you enforce it because I'm not here all the time and she just takes it up.

More annoying for me is her bad attitude when asked to clear up her mess.

Yes. Grrrr

I will start by saying I only have a 4 year old so I am completely unqualified, but we don’t eat upstairs. Is that weird? I’ve never eaten upstairs and I can’t imagine doing it.

We aren’t precious and regularly eat on our laps on the sofa rather than at a table, in fact I’m really slack about that, but never upstairs and can’t think of a reason outside of possibly illness why we would?

I was a chubby teen and hid food wrappers because I was embarrassed of what I'd eaten. My mum used to despair at finding them in different places all over my room. Also showed that she was very nosy as she would always find them! She also found cigarettes and my diary... I can still remember the argument that followed!!! 🙈

My 12 year old does this and not just in his room. I have to regularly check under the sofas. Not just wrappers either - half eaten slices of bread or cheese and on one occasion an almost empty unopened jam jar and a sticky spoon left in his pants drawer.

He gets a major telling off each time but it makes no difference.

The answer to your question is yes.

Teenagers can be gross.

I find it amazing that they reach peak grossness at the same time that they are trying to get laid

We have a no eating upstairs rule too but DS sneaks the stuff out of the fridge or cupboard and takes it to his room.

I'm always commenting on the fact that my DC will never ever drop litter in the street. They come home with rubbish in their coat pockets and will react with shock if they see anyone littering - and yet once they get home they just chuck it anywhere!

As they get older they go in their rooms more and their rooms are like their sitting rooms not just a place to sleep.

Basin.we don't eat as a family in our rooms. The teens don't eat meals in their rooms either when I'm home, but seem to take snacks in there, lots of, and drinks bottles, and sweets, and crisps. It just happens.

Basinhaircut - we never eat upstairs either, but once DS got a part time job, he used to order a pizza home delivery for himself when we were out! Then stuffed the empty box and drink bottle in his cupboards!

Then again, we have never expected 3 adults to sleep in a single bed. DS tried sleeping in a single bed with two girls in his first year at uni. He sounded quite surprised, when he told me nobody can get any sleep like that!

2 DSC - 12 & 9. No food and drink allowed in rooms. Do not a problem here.

Totally normal! I used to do that and also stuff takeaway boxes in the hedge
(Most) Teens are grim but usually grow out of it!

Yes! Though she doesn't bother hiding them so much now. It's nearly all (junk) stuff she's bought. Once they get to a certaine age teens go straight to their rooms from the front door and vice versa most of the time. Mine does anyway. Life's too short to nag cobstantly.(Though can't recall eating in my room as a teen - can't believe the junk they buy. I'd agonise every time I ate a Mars bar on the way home from school for fear of getting a fat stomach!)

Maybe I am massively over-strict but when you all say they "sneak" stuff into their rooms what is the punishment for that?

If there are no consequences of course they will continue to do it.

Mine would lose tech. That would hit them hard