Friday 28 September 2012

The Things Boys Do

I've noticed a growing trend in our house and it's definitely a boy thing. No, I'm not talking about the toilet seat; I have my men pretty well trained in that department - at least until I turn my back!

It's this -




Can you see? Why can't they just pick out a t-shirt without rifling through the entire drawer and making the place look like we've been burgled/burglarized. (Don't you just love that American word - burglarized?) I've even offered to put an extra rod in his closet so we can hang his entire collection, but he wants to keep them in drawers. It doesn't help that he couldn't care less about the inevitable creases so there's no incentive to stop rumpling them all up. Sigh...

And now the Little Guy's started doing it. It's not learned behavio(u)r because their bedrooms aren't even on the same floor. It's obviously in the genes. We usually put his clothes out the night before, but every so often we'll choose a t-shirt that is about six sizes too small and he'll go back up in the morning to find another one. By the time I realize what he's doing it's too late to shout an abusive threat up the stairs. Sigh....



For two boys that claim not to really care how they look (at least when I'm trying to get a comb through their hair), they are certainly picky about their t-shirts.

19 comments:

  1. That looks 100% familiar. My eldest son (16) just keeps his clothes on the floor. Simpler to find everything that way.

    I despair but leave them to it.

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  2. My teen has a never-ending pile on top of the dryer that he pulls from. He's perfectly happy to wear the same things over and over again, and I'm trying hard not to explode about it.

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  3. My daughter does this, but on the floor. I bring up nicely folded or hung clothes, lay them carefully on her bed, remind her that THIS TIME can she PLEASE PUT THEM AWAY PROPERLY and she tells me YES, then I go in at bedtime and they're all kicked onto the floor at the foot of her bed. Grrrr...

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  4. My boys do this too! Every time. It's like they can't open a cupboard or drawer without leaving it open. My DH too! I always say to him, 'Were you born in a barn?'!

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  5. It must be a guy thing because that is EXACTLY what my son's dresser looks like when he is home!

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  6. Never thought about that - but now I do, def a male trait!

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  7. My grandsons must be normal then!
    Hate to say it...... but little girls do this too. At least my granddaughters do!
    Maggie X

    Nuts in May

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  8. Nothing makes me madder than seeing clean clothes I've ironed, screwed up on the floor of the wardrobe because they can't be arsed to hang them back up again - I feel your pain!

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  9. You IRON them? Stuff that! I only iron shirts,trousers, the odd thing that's really REALLY creased, and a few things of mine. Yet I still have a massive ironing pile.

    My son's exactly the same. I have demonstrated to both him and husband the correct method of extracting a t shirt or towel from a neat pile without messing up the rest of the pile, but my lesson doesn't seem to have sunk in.

    I just tell him that when he goes to uni he'll have to either get a grip and a system, or live in a pigsty and end up frustrated because he can't find stuff in the mess. Husband went for the latter option, but he has slowly been converted to at least the theory of a System over the years, if not the actual practice. Maddening.

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  10. Oh those drawers look exactly like 2 rooms of our house - although my daughter spends hours neatly rearranging her drawers (so I can't find anything) In our house the boys take after their Dad who is equally as messy!

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  11. I'm trying to remember a book I read about a decade ago about the psychology of clothes. Something about the bottom half showing what 'club' you're in - everyone wears jeans, or girls all wear the same skirt or something like that. The top half is where one expresses 'individuality'. Somewhere recently I read that the most important part if identity is in the hat - religious observances and culture (cowboy hats, sombreros, turbans - maybe hoodies?), though this is not universally practiced these days. So, my take on it is that your boys aren't practicing vanity, they are communicating a statement. Not that it makes the messy room any less annoying!

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  12. Oh God is this what I have to look forward to? As Aaron is only 2, I still pick out his clothes and dress him and they are all hanging so it is not too bad.
    Liska xx

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  13. Mrs B - I only iron the occasional t-shirt, and only when I'm in a good mood. Which is hardly ever when there's an iron involved.

    Shelley - yes, they have a fab collection of t-shirts and buy most of them for them when I see great ones. Which is probably why I get so annoyed when they treat them like this!

    New Mum - 'fraid so!!

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  14. My husband does that!! And then he tells me to chill when I nag him about it, so I just say that next time all his clothes will be stuffed in his drawers straight out from the tumble drier not caring how they land in there... That drives me mad!

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  15. I suggested we hang all the teen's t-shirts, so that he could see what was on them rather than pulling them all out. Apparently he likes them in the drawers. Might have to do a stealth switch while he's at school.

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  16. Our daughter is 5 years old and her drawers look like this as she changes outfits 20 times a day, telling me "this isn't pretty". Where does that come from?!? The mess and need to re-iron/re-fold drives me loopy, and I'm devastated that it's started so young! Thanks for sharing.

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  17. I'm afraid I'm the worst one in our house, which is odd really as I like ironing and putting things in neat piles. Husband is the tidiest and son isn't too bad. I've taught him how to hang up his suit every night now and he's doing it perfectly, trousers neat over the hanger and everything. I'm good with hangers but my drawers are a real mess.

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  18. That looks comparatively tidy compared to my son.

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  19. My 17 year old very American son is exactly the same, always has been, and I'm sure he always will be. He'd better find a wife who's a purger/organizer or he'll die under a pile of his own dirty laundry ala Hoarders.

    Luckily, my husband is even more of a neat freak about his clothes than I am! He irons and hangs all his own stuff. Woohoo! I wonder if it's a Scottish thing, or just a perfectionist thing?

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