OMG just forced my 13 year old son into the shower

[TiggerTails57]

The cure for 'Goat boy funk' (Thanks minkydog) is = Girls
In my sons case it was girls and joining the Air Force!

 

[MizTink]

my ds17: never went through any of this.

dd15: only when she was younger and thought combing her wildly thick and curly hair after a shower was torture. she soon realized it was much worse (lots of tangles) if she didn't wash/condition it every day

dd11: daily fights over her showering. neighbors probably thought i was horribly mean hearing her scream and cry as if i was murdering someone. she would get out of the shower wet but still smelly. like a wet dog! i would make her get back in and i had to SEE her all sudsy. from head to toe. she called me a pervert for coming in to look at her naked in the shower!!! thank god that has passed. she's very girly now and showers everyday without being told!

my sister never paid enough attention to her kids and teaching them basics, like personal hygiene. i tried when they were with me, and so did my mom, but that wasn't enough. my beautiful 20 year old niece is now "dirty" most of the time. she puts makeup on a dirty face in the morning and styles her greasy hair...... i hate it! her 15 year old brother is no better....

 

[MizTink]

anyone have advice for aging parents regressing back to this "dirty habit"????
me and my kids recently moved in with my parents and it is quite disturbing how few showers they take.
my mom still works 3 days per week, so she's not quite as bad. my dad on the other hand......... lord help you if he walks by . not too noticeable as long as he stays in his chair

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

DD12 is going through this now. We have to remind her EVERY night to take a shower. Even DS3 will tell her to go wash and brush her hair. She STINKS! She is a very athletic kid and loves PE at school plus takes dance a few nights a week so she definitely sweats.

DD16 went through this around that age and at one point the hygiene gene suddenly kicked in and she all of the sudden started caring what she smelled like. I think boys played a major role in all of that.

 

[Princess Nancy]

Be careful what you wish for...
In my experience, they will care when they notice those of the opposite sex!!!

 

[tazdev3225]

It is so nice to know that we are not alone. My DGS just turned 12. He walks in my house and I throw his deoderant to him. I have one there just for him. I was actually gagging at the smell one day. My DS talks to him whenever he is at his house about the stench and then throws him in the shower. The problem is DGS and his mom live with her parents and his grandfather doesn't believe in showers with soap or deoderant so he has a lousy role model there. We are hoping he gets interested in girls enough to care about personal hygiene soon.

After reading the posts here I think he will get a HUGE bottle of AXE everything for Christmas. Of course then I will be sneezing a lot. I can't win.

 

[zachnsamsmommy]

My DS is just 9 1/2, and showers are almost 'forced' around here as well...I am lucky if I can get him to take one every other day. And he tries to 'fake' it...stand in the water for 2 secs, then go watch TV upstairs (and still leave shower running). I have to have DH go check that he is actually clean...and sometimes I do 'smell' tests on his head (his shampoo is apple scented).

I, too, look forward to the day where he WANTS to be clean. My neighbor said it was age 13-14 with her DS.

 

[MichelleinMaine]

When one of my boys was in that stage he went thru a period where he'd go shower but not wash his hair. I'd literally have to threaten to go in there and WATCH to make sure it would get done.

Then I had to remove the bottle of Conditioner from the bathroom he used because he was too lazy to read and distinguish Shampoo and Conditioner.

Eventually I just started buying him his own special bottles of Industrial Strength Body Wash and he'd just use it for top to bottom.

Ditto to all of this for my 14 year old.
"Shower" is on his list of weekly chores if he wants to get his allowance (which only marginally works). People laugh when they come over and see the list on the fridge. Inevitably, it's someone without a teenage boy!

 

[usnuzuloose]

That's what worked for us. DS24 didn't know the difference between shampoo and conditioner for a long time. I bought him some Axe body wash and he was in hog heaven. 'Course, the rest of us paid the price--you could smell him from around the block!~ But at least it wasn't goat-boy funk.

Ok thats a first, goat boy funk.

 

[kellyg403]

DS turned 14 and now I can't keep him out of the shower. I am totally staying out of it... I kinda wish I could go back to the days when I had to tell him to shower etc.

He found girls, he decided he needed to shave the 3 hairs on his chin, his room smells like a hundred bottle of axe exploded and it is just as bad as "goat boy funk"


Kelly

 

[ENSOCK]

Yep, still waiting. DS16 will still tell me he does not have to shower or shave. We were in church yesterday and DH looks at me to ask why did I let DS out of the house without shaving?? Same house dude, you remind him sometimes!!!!

DS11 will go days if I don't force him to bathe nightly. And let's not even start on the no brushing of the teeth! YUCK!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jsmith]

man this was never a problem at my house-by 8th grade-12 or 13 mine were showering 3 times a day-in the morning before leaving the house-before dinner after getting home from practice for the sport du jour and at bedtime. Sadly we still had funk-there is noooooooooooo worse smell than teenage sweat sox-blehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

[luvsJack]

The cure for 'Goat boy funk' (Thanks minkydog) is = Girls In my sons case it was girls and joining the Air Force!

This exactly! Both my sons hit the two showers a day mark somewhere around 8th/9th grade when they saw that first "special" girl. Before that it was after ball practice only and that is with mom saying "GO, NOW"

DD is in 7th and takes two showers a day. For her its all about the hair. She wants it soft, shiny and board straight. So its easier to get there if is slightly damp in the a.m. The one at night is for the off chance that she decides to sleep a little later in the a.m.

 

[NotUrsula]

anyone have advice for aging parents regressing back to this "dirty habit"????
me and my kids recently moved in with my parents and it is quite disturbing how few showers they take.
my mom still works 3 days per week, so she's not quite as bad. my dad on the other hand......... lord help you if he walks by . not too noticeable as long as he stays in his chair

This is usually caused by diminution of the sense of smell and a bit of short-term memory loss; there is also a common belief among older people that if you are not physically active, then you won't sweat and thus won't have B.O. Also, it could be getting physically harder for them to bathe; they may be afraid of slipping in the tub.

Grab-bars installed in the bathroom and changing the colors in there to be high-contrast will often help. The high-contrast makes it easier to maneuver in and out of the shower/tub without eyeglasses on.

 

[Hannathy]

And don't forget what goes along with the not showering unless forced is the only changing the underwear when you shower! I always said if my DD wore half as many pairs in a week and my DS wore twice as many pair in a week it would probably be the right amount for each!

 

[SandrA9810]

anyone have advice for aging parents regressing back to this "dirty habit"????
me and my kids recently moved in with my parents and it is quite disturbing how few showers they take.
my mom still works 3 days per week, so she's not quite as bad. my dad on the other hand......... lord help you if he walks by . not too noticeable as long as he stays in his chair

This is the problem here. My grandmother doesn't even remember what she wore the previous day, she wears the same outfit for almost an entire week. She also refuses to get in the shower, because she doesn't want to fall. But she doesn't understand that she doesn't get clean bathing at the sink.
At least her head is clean, she goes to the hair dresser once a week. Which is like a little treat for her.

 

[CharliNye]

This thread is hilarious, I have to show it to my husband.

My 13 yr old son is seriously hygiene challenged. He will stand in the shower at least but will not wash his body or hair unless I go in there and yell at him ten times. This morning he was furious at me because I kept opening the door to make him wash.

Sorry dude, but you've been in there fifteen minutes and STILL haven't washed your hair???? WTH? This makes my husband more annoyed then me. I figure he's the one that has to go to school smelly. And when he's with his father, my ex, his dad is too preoccupied with work and his two babies to make sure he washes. grrrrrrr

Oh and don't get me started on the teeth. I have to fight him to brush his teeth. I have enough issues getting the 4 yr old to brush hers, I'm not monitoring this one every day too.

I know he likes girls, doesn't play sports but he's insanely shy. So that's no excuse. Oh and PE is his LAST class of the day. gah. So he never has time to shower. yuck yuck yuck.

I do feel better reading this thread though, I'm not alone. I remember being very clean at a young age. I showered every day in jr high and high school. Then again I liked boys by the age of 11 so that had something to do with it.

 

[RitaZ.]

My DS is just 9 1/2, and showers are almost 'forced' around here as well...I am lucky if I can get him to take one every other day. And he tries to 'fake' it...stand in the water for 2 secs, then go watch TV upstairs (and still leave shower running). I have to have DH go check that he is actually clean...and sometimes I do 'smell' tests on his head (his shampoo is apple scented).

I, too, look forward to the day where he WANTS to be clean. My neighbor said it was age 13-14 with her DS.

That's pretty clever and funny!

 

[bettymae1121]

If he's anything like my brothers, he'll probably figure it out when he realizes that girls don't like stinky boys (we're fussy that way).

 

[tink1969]

I've never heard of showering twice a day....unless the 2nd time is after exercise or some other reason.

It's a guy thing....they shower in the morning before school/work. Then when they come at night they shower before they go out for evening. (you know...to pick up 'chicks'!) That's what my brothers used to do anyway.