I have a 13 year old son. He is very conscious of what he wears and how his hair looks, but he won't take a shower regularly without being told to. When he does shower, he won't wash his face!
He is very into girls and I've tried telling him that the girls don't want to be near a stinky boy with pimples all over his face, but he just ignores me.
Is anyone else going through this? Any ideas to get him to wash?
I saw in the last year a book by an antor, or a model...can't remember, but a hot guy, with "beauty advice" if you will--for lack of a better term. It was about fitness, grooming...etc. Maybe that would be a good gift for Christmas in a few months. I don't remember who wrote it, but I do recall he was very famous and very hot and not too old.
Is it abnormal? NO. He's a teenager. It comes with the territory!
I, myself went through the same phase. And, for me, that's all it was. A phase. I grew out of it. When I was in that phase, I would pretend to take a bath. I would fill the tub, but not actually get in it. I would even make some noises moving the water around, to give the idea that I was in the bath. I would just time it for the amount of time of a normal bath, and then let the water out.
That is so funny how normal this is! My mom has a son who's almost 11 and doesn't take a bath unless you tell him to. She said that my older brother was the same way. I just don't think they care. She said she'll sometimes only find one pair of underwear in his dirty laundry when she does laundry once a week! She told me she just tells him to go take one and then he will, but if she forgets, he doesn't take one.
Try purchasing him some hygeine products and just wait it will kick in. Especially when a girl finally does react to him, then you'll wish he was stinky. Be patient and use frebreeze...
My advice is choose your battles. It really isn't going to hurt him if he's not bathing and if he doesn't make the connection with girls, he will soon. Let him be ignored for a while and if he complains, then suggest more frequent showers. Stinky teen-age boys is just a fact of life. Get a couple air fresheners and live with it for a while.
Good Luck!
It must be a boy thing. I have a 13 year old step son who is the same way. He doesn't take showers without being told to and also he doesn't brush his teeth without being told to. Drives me crazy. When he comes home from Florida we are going to start taking stuff (favorite games/toys) away if he doesn't take showers and brush his teeth on a regular basis without being told to do so. Hopefully it will work!!! Good luck.
Hi J.!
I don't have a teen child, but my brother is 14. I have heard my mother checking up on his personal hygene efforts! I know they have set his daily "chores" to include shower, teeth etc... and treat it as such. If he does not do the things that are expexcted, he loses the ability to do things. Or they wait for him to complete his shower before they can do something. For example one Saturday they were going out to do errands which included my brother getting a new game for one of those gaming consoles (I can't keep up with which one :)) He held up the family by not taking his shower and making his bed, so once they were finally out, they did not have time to stop for the game.
A.
Almost every male that age goes through this. Just be persistant, make sure he's changing his underwear and brushing his teeth, and he'll grow out of it. If he doesn't grow out of it within a year, then I would be concerned and talk to maybe his doctor. My brother, my step-son, 4 of my nephews, etc have all done this. The more you fret over it, the more fun it is for him, so let him stink a little and he'll grow out of it, I promise.
