My skids ALWAYS come back from BB dirty as hell! My 3 year old SS will have dried, crusted snot all over his face, my 7 year old SD has nasty smelling hair and neither EVER brush their teeth!!

At their age, I blame BB. She has no personal hygiene so how on earth would she teach her children good hygiene skills??

The routine in our home is that as soon as the skids get home they get in the bath!

I would just tell each of the kds they need to bath because the smell is making you nausea. If BD doesn't like it-too bad. Its one thing to take the day off, but to continously day after day is too much. Especially with that 15 year old and all of her menustration stuff the smell must be awful and I would tell her that.

DH's son once spit in our sink and left it there for me, his personal maid, to wash down; it has NEVER happened again. He will go days without showering if his father is working the night shift and not here to remind him to bathe. When we get in the car in the morning, I put the window down so I don't have to smell him while my DD complains endlessly about the smell. You think by now he'd have caught on, which he probably has, but he's just doing it to be a PITA. His room smells awful, like an old man's. Yuck!

My SD12 is the same way. Totally gross. I brought this up to her counselor. She looked at my SD and said YUCK. The counselor told me to let her learn the consquences of being dirty. Her friends will start to tell her she smells and that she has dragon breath. And they will start pulling back from her. She is a social butterfly so the counselor is positive it'll work. I at first didn't like this idea, but I am willing to give it a try. See how it works.

Until I became very sick and severly depressed I was anal about my own hygiene and appearance. I would not be seen in the house let alone in public unwashed, with meesy hair or having any kind of body odor.
I tried to instill this in my kids. Nightly routines, encouragnment, reasons why, and all other kinds of things.
Out of 7 kids 5 are meticulous and almost anal most of the time ....BUT....I have an 18yr old daughterwith yellow teeth that are rotting and horrible body odor, so bad in fact that I myself have threatened to make her stay off of carpeting and stuffed furniture so she doesn't ruin them. I also have a 16 yr old daughter that has such bad acne and body odor that I don't want to get too close to her.
Me Their biodads and Steve all tell them they HAVE to "clean up", shower, brush their teeth, etc....
Nothing works other than me getting downright mean!
These are not neglected or abused children.
I do however see a BIG MISTAKE I made in raising them and that was to follow the advice of prominant psychologists that said that you are not to interact negatively in any way shape or form with children because it will blow their self esteem. The hell with that. I have come to understand that they need to hear it from me before they become social outcasts or hear it in a worse way from someone else.
Unfortunately a step parent telling the kid will only seem like picking so it's better left to the bio parent.
BUT...a gift basket or overnight bag filled with favorite scented shampoos, soaps, deodorants, and other miscellaneous hygiene and appearance items will make the kid feel special and important and encourage good hygiene.
Make it a special shopping trip with the excuse that since you are going somewhere and want fresh new things to use, and have no clue how to pack that you would appreciate it if they went with you to help you fill your overnight bag and in return you will purchase one that they creat themself. That way it doesn't seem like picking and you can guide them to the necessities.
Good luck.....it's a delicate issue to deal with!
Lisa Dawn

In seeing many different counselors for my children and myself, and as well as seeing it in many loved ones, I have come to learn something very important. One of the first and foremost signs of severe depression that needs attention or help is lack of interest in personal hygiene.
Maybe you should talk to your husband about your concern over the signs of depression in his kids...that might get him involved.
I hope something in my rambling helps

Lisa Dawn

Same thing. Their Half brother, my BS, loves baths and to brush his teeth and he's only 20 months old!! I have had enough just this week of SS8 not brushing his teeth, so I feed him oatmeal. That's what he'd be eating without teeth, that's what's going to happen if he doesn't take care of them, so I'm just giving him a head start. I remind them EVERY freaking night to take a bath and brush their teeth! They are 8, almost 9 and 9 almost 10, are you kidding me?!? When I can't even talk to the kid b/c their breath kills me, it's time to take action!

~THE EXERCISE THAT REALLY CHANGES YOUR LIFE IS WALKING DOWN THE AISLE~

She is with us from Sunday night through Friday night. The typical week, she takes ONE shower. That's it! Her room smells so bad, if she leaves the door open I can smell it DOWNSTAIRS. I go close it. All her clothes reek because she will wear them four or five times before washing them. All her white clothes are yellow/brown because they are worn repeatedly. And she never brushes her teeth either and didn't when she had braces. Disgusting!

is this a new kind of breed or what? my SD 8 has to be reminded to shower, brush her teeth, fix her hair even when it's all messed up and on her face, to clean herself right after having a BM cause if not reminded those undies go strait to the trash, to clean her face cause she does not notice when it's all dirty even when she checks in the mirror and now she has to be reminded to take off her pjs before putting on her jeans yes it's that bad. last weekend she was here and we were at my sister's house i noticed that she had not taken off her pjs and when i asked her why she had not done she said "oh i forgot". not so long ago she would stain the toilet seat with "poop" and just leave it like that for me to clean (yeah right).
it just makes me think what is going on at home? i can kind of understand boys that are not clean but girls?? come on i don't know about you all but i've always wanted to look and smell good since i was little and i learned how to care for myself at an early age. and i don't think it's some kind of stage or that these kids are too young to be caring for their personal hygiene because i know younger kids who refuse to leave the house if they feel dirty or their hair is not properly fixed.

by the way does anyone have a problem with very, very, very dirty panties from SD???