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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Original poster

I went into my teenager's room and I found .........

47 replies

weegiemum · 07/06/2018 15:53

Not me, but dh. After 3 days of nagging ds (16) to tidy his room as his Grannie is coming (we usually leave well enough alone when it comes to teenage mess), dh cracked this morning and entered ds room with a bin bag.

He found:

  • the remains of a munchy box
  • 5 empty shoeboxes
  • no dishes (after a call was put out for dishes yesterday) but 7 forks
  • selected empty pot noodle cups
  • 7 empty deodorant cans, and ELEVEN partly used ones! EIGHTEEN pairs of shoes. 18* This includes football boots, 2 kinds of running spikes, trainers just for athletics etc but still, 18! I have about 4.

What would you find if you entered your teenagers room?

(oh and ds will be ok about it, especially as his room got hoovered without him having to do it!).

OP posts:
heateallthebuns · 07/06/2018 15:55

Haha not my teenager but my 21 year old nephew has a very similar stash of stuff in his room. I just go in and liberate any glasses or plates in there and leave everything else.

sleeveface · 07/06/2018 16:03

Op I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but boys don't usually grow up! My DH is exactly the same!! If he had his own room this is exactly how I would find it Angry (he's 30!)

Aprilshouldhavebeenmyname · 07/06/2018 16:05

Have actually just been in ds 16's room and found some condoms!!
And his room relatively tidy and the bed made!!
Grin
Happy dm!!

AChickenCalledKorma · 07/06/2018 16:08

I'm not convinced I can actually get into my teenager's room 😂

I would definitely find a lot of plastic cups. I'm sure we used to have about a dozen ...

tigercub50 · 07/06/2018 16:17

The deodorant cans could be a concern - maybe sniffing the contents?

acornsandnuts · 07/06/2018 16:21

Hundreds of used make up wipes, many stinking wet towels, dirty clothes mixed with clean clothes. Empty crisp packets, probably a couple of cereal bowls where the spoon is now attached by dried on sticky milk.

Kikisdeliveries · 07/06/2018 16:25

I just removed the packaging of an advent calendar from Christmas and an Easter egg box from DS' room. I was hoping he might think to dispose of these himself eventually but after 6 months I'm guessing it had become invisible to him!

TeeBee · 07/06/2018 16:25

Probably a mixture of clean and dirty clothes all over the place and at least 3 tea cups. But he does know that if I do enter he is not allowed out of the house until he has sorted it all out.

JellySlice · 07/06/2018 16:41

Quite a lot of guitars and music technology.
A heap of dirty laundry in one corner.
A heap of clean laundry in another corner.
The floor carpeted in schoolwork.
A bin full of biscuit, crisp and chocolate wrappers.
A musty smell, and darkness, because the curtains haven't been opened in days, and the only light comes from the screens.

mayaknew · 07/06/2018 16:43

I doubt he's sniffing deodorant. My dh is in his 30s and STILL does this!!! I find either empty of half used deodorants all the time. It does my head right in!Angry

And on the subject of teens rooms.... when you brave entry to your teen Dds room and find used sanitary towels on the floor. Plots were lost that day😷😷😷

Titsywoo · 07/06/2018 16:44

Most of the glasses from the kitchen
A few empty crisp packets or fruit punnets
Most of the clothes from her wardrobe chucked on the floor
A desk piled high with school books, drawing stuff, random post it notes

upsideup · 07/06/2018 16:47

The deodorant cans could be a concern - maybe sniffing the contents?

I wouldnt worry, deodorant for teenage boys is like perfume for teenage girls. My 8 year old ds collects different scents and cool bottles and he doesnt even need it.

AndNoneForGretchenWieners · 07/06/2018 16:49

Empty cans, plates, spoons (always spoons!), discarded photo prints and play scripts, and all the clothes he has ever worn.

SoupDragon · 07/06/2018 16:50

The lost tribe of the Amazon, 3 woolly mammoths and a breeding colony of dodos.

BlueJava · 07/06/2018 16:53

If I entered my teenage DS's rooms I'd find... a lot of school work (GCSEs) but everything else pretty tidy! I don't know how or why... but they bring anything food related including dirty plates every day, they put washing in the laundry basket and generally keep it ok. I can't complain.

However, what do they do with all the food I buy?! They must eat it but frankly I can't keep up!! They is no limit to the amount of sausage rolls they can consume. And they are both very skinny and very tall.

Wombat45 · 07/06/2018 16:54

My dd (13) insists on keeping the clippings whenever I trim her hair or fringe, and keeps them in a jar in her room.

There is also a basket of about 20 odd socks. I'm sure that many of the partner socks are hidden amongst the enormous amount of mess and clutter in the rest of the room.

Usually there are a lot of damp towels on the floor. And plenty of dirty clothes on the floor, but none in the laundry basket.

Itsmeaga1n · 07/06/2018 16:59

If I entered my teenager's bedroom I'd find

A LOT of bowls and mugs;
A LOT of rubbish, particularly food wrappers;
Dirty clothes all over the floor;
Clean clothes still in the washing basket I left them in.

Brendatheblender · 07/06/2018 17:01

My stepbrothers were VILE as teenagers.

We often found glasses filled with urine in their rooms.

whattheactualbleep · 07/06/2018 18:06

I put a daily call out to the two teens in our house for dishes and towels.
The threat is that if they don't make it down by that evening food and drink is banned upstairs and they'll get one skanky towel each that can fester on their bedroom floor as much as they like 😂😂😂
In dds room I'd find crumbs galore,pencil sharpening a literally EVERYWHERE ,make up wipes,socks and knickers all over the floor and lots of dust.
In older ds room is find empty cider cans amongst rubbish sweets chocolate half eaten plates of random food and lots of dirty washing.
Oh and most of my cutlery drawer Hmm

avado · 07/06/2018 18:38

Someone I knew had a baby with her dp, he had a teenage son from previous marriage. The sons mum had died and the step mum who’d just had a baby wasn’t expecting to have to live with the son as they only had him eow previously but now the mum died they had to take him in.
At 17 he moved in and sounded utterly depressed. She told me she threw him out the week he turned 18 because he never left his room and wasn’t going to amount to anything. she also found 3 empty coke cans in his room and a bin bags worth of stuff to throw away (while she screwed her face up in disgust)
I’m 30 and I still need to check for socks left everywhere by myself.
I couldn’t stay friends with her after I heard she’d pushed him out at 18. His ddad was scared of her and watched the son go with nothing but a small bit of inheritance from the sale of his mums house.
I can only hope her son who’s still primary aged one day teaches her what an average teenager looks like. This thread reminded me of it. The step son just sounded normal to me and had enough on his plate grieving for his late mum.

sleeveface · 07/06/2018 18:47

Avado that's really sad and shocking Sad

hugoagogo · 07/06/2018 19:01

I was kicked out at 18 too. Largely for not closing my drawers Hmm
my dc have no idea.
dm always said I would understand when I had my own dc- the total opposite is true.

TeaAddict235 · 07/06/2018 20:09

My mum used to say the my DBro's room would give Louis Pasteur's lab a run for it's money. According to DBro's girlfriend, nothing much has changed. He's still singlehandedly trying to find a vaccine for the flu in his room.

Luckything50 · 07/06/2018 20:24

I love the quote about going into a teenagers room being like a trip to IKEA - you only pop in for a quick look and end up coming out laden with plates, cutlery and glasses!

SandunesAndRainclouds · 07/06/2018 20:31

DD is away with school so I’ve stripped the bed and fixed some dodgy curtains. I found

  • beauty products neatly grouped and lined up
  • photos of me and her, all DCs together
  • 3 handbags neatly stored under her bed
  • a list of potential colleges and the qualifications she needs to get into each

The worst I found was a splodge of nail varnish on her desk.

My not-quite-teen is something else though. She’s seriously gross.