Is your kid a loser???

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Is your kid a loser???
7
Tue, 08-21-2007 - 8:55pm

BOTH of my kids are! Of course I refer to them as "losers" very tongue and cheek because they seem to lose EVERYTHING! Any tips for me? last year both of them lost several lunchboxes, water bottles, jackets and my DD even lost a pair of SHOES! Now that school is about to be back in session I'm getting scared! They both have a lot of new stuff that is just the kind of thing to be left behind. How many waterbottles and lunchboxes do you guys go through in a typical school year?? How many jackets need to be replaced before they learn to keep track of their things?

Melanie

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 08-21-2007 - 9:02pm
Thankfully no, mine isn't a loser. LOL In any sense of the word. She has never lost a lunch bag or anything like that. She did lose a cell phone and I'm pretty sure some kid took it home thinking they were getting a free cell phone but since I cancelled it right away they had no use for it. But she's never lost her house keys. Maybe a sweatershirt kind of thing, but nothing serious that annoyed me. Oh we did

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-06-2006
Tue, 08-21-2007 - 9:57pm

I have 1 "loser" and one who's pretty good at keeping track of things. I think it is partly genetic or "hardwired" into them. Here are a few thoughts... the more they have, the more they can lose. It's harder to keep track of things when there is soooo much to keep track of. I've also found that once they have to pay to replace something once or twice (or go without (can't find your water bottle, I'm really sorry, guess you'll be really thirsty after practice today), things don't get lost as often.

My son is a swimmer and used to lose or forget goggles, suits, towels, you name it, all the time. We cleaned out the bag and kept it down to 3 things and he always runs through the list (suit, towel, goggles... suit, towel, goggles... suit, towel, goggles)in his head before he leaves the house and before he leaves the locker room. For school, I actually put an index card in a pocket in his backpack that had a short list on it. Every day before leaving school he'd peek at the card and make sure he had everything (in theory anyway).

Good luck!!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2003
Tue, 08-21-2007 - 10:43pm
Ugh, I have a "loser" as well!

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Community Leader
Registered: 12-16-2003
Wed, 08-22-2007 - 7:23am
My ds is a loser too! Grrr...drives me batty, he drops things no matter where he is and just leaves them! He isn't allowed to leave the house with his I-pod or DS, he loses them in them in the house as it is! He lost a pair of snowpants at school 2 years ago, how do you do that??? I have threatened him that I will staple things on to him if he doesn't start keeping track of things, lol. He is getting better, but still! I put his name in everything. He is quite good about going and getting them again. He is 9. Dd has her moments, but she was never so bad.

Ramona  Mom to 2 great kids and wife to one wonderful hubby since 1990!

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-12-2007
Wed, 08-22-2007 - 7:35am

Yes, both DDs are "losers" but have greatly improved once I stopped buying replacements for everything. Waterbottles and lunch bags are the worse. So now I purchase one for each at the beginning of school year that they want (i.e. color, style -- as long as in my price range). If it is lost, I will replace "once" from my own pocket. But the style, color, etc. is MY choice. Which is usually a plain style, boring color item as replacement. If that is lost, then the girls pay for replacement but I still chose color, style. So far, I've only had to replace for each girl once for them to learn that if they want something in their style, color, etc. they had better hang on to it because the replacement is not something they are going to enjoy. Before doing this, I would allow them to choose the replacement and they usually got that they wanted (within price range) so they never suffered any "consequences" for having lost the items. it was like "oh well, mom will replace it".

Oldest DD is now buying a lot of her clothes from summer earnings and birthday money so she is much more responsible with her things that she paid for than when I bought her something...

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 08-22-2007 - 10:15am

I'm sure I've bought my share of lunchboxes! I got so angry a couple of years ago that I told em I wasn't buying anymore until the new school year...my son carried his lunch in Walmart bags for a few months! Would you believe the lunchbox I bought at the beginning of that next school year has never been lost? I guess because I've always let them pick their coats, getting the one they REALLY want (within $$$ reason of course) they've kept pretty good track of them. They know if its lost they're wearing whatever they have until the next year. If you're careful to mark their names in them you should be able to go to the lost and found at school and hopefully get them back!

Denise

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-01-2006
Wed, 08-22-2007 - 6:16pm
my Hannah was a loser but not anymore. She lost a string school logo bag, her lunch bag and something else. I made her give me her allowance money. She hasn't lost anything since. Of course just the other day she was looking for her brand new Vans. We looked every where. Then I remember that she had been to the sports court with her friends. DH went over there and low and behold there they were, soaking wet. :)

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