Welcome to the club! My SS and SD both are terrible about taking showers, wearing clean clothes, etc. The school has even complained about it. We make them do so when they are here, but unfortunately, BM and her boyfriend are guilty of the same crimes and they don't care if the kids don't shower and use deodorant. In fact, BM tells us it's not a big deal. Last spring SS had pants so ingrained with dirt that she was whining about how she has to buy him new pants because the school complained and they're not really dirty, people just think they are.

My son is 12 1/2 and I have to hound him to shower. He's getting better now that the girls are showing interest, but I'll soon have a bigger problem on my hands, I'm afraid! LOL

My daughter has gone a week without bathing. She didn't smell, her hair wasn't greasy, I was amazed. She was just 10, but still. It's actually what people did back in the day!

My son literally looks greasy the second he gets out of the shower, poor kid.

I think kids just don't care. My boyfriend's 11 y/o daughter is kind of like that. We've told her numerous times to always put deodorant on, and she doesn't. We'll go somewhere and she'll play with other kids, then we all climb in the car and she stinks to high heaven. My bf makes her shower right when we get home usually, and then reminds her (yet again) to always use deodorant. I did the laundry one weekend after all the kids had showered, and noticed that there weren't any underwear for her in the basket. I asked her if she was still wearing the same underwear she came in, and she said yes. I pointed out that it completely defeated the purpose of showering if you're going to put the same nasty underwear back on, but I don't think she got the point. She also puts her dirty clothes back in her drawer. This habit I think we broke her of, because every time I'd see that, I'd tell her dad and he would take care of it. It only took about three or four weekends before she finally got the picture. He finally threatened to make her wash everything the in drawer if we found dirty clothes in there again. She never volunteers to shower - we always tell her to. Which could be more because my bf does that with all the kids, but at some point you'd think she'd just know that she should shower. We don't make the kids shower every day - usually every other unless they get really dirty. But in my opinion, she should be getting to that age where she wants to shower every day. But that's just me!

I think it is a laziness issue. I wonder though how these kids are getting away with smelling bad at school. You would think their peers making fun of them would compel to wash and use deodorant.

Until he grows out of it, maybe you could stock up on candles. Light one every time he's in the room with you and eventually your SS and DH will get the message.

My SS 12 and SD16 don't shower daily or brush their teeth. The SS will wear the same dirty cloths all weekend if I didn't tell him to change. The teeth thing is what gets me. Their breath smells awful and their teeth are so yellow its disgusting. I don't know what my SO and the BM are thinking when dealing with their kids. It's a shame too, the 16 SD has over $4000 of braces in her mouth right now. I can't imagine how bad her teeth will look when they take them off next month. I'm sure she'll be screaming at her dad to pay for teeth whitening now too since she didn't take care of them.

This should be an interesting month.....

Totally normal thing esp for a teen boy. It's really common and especially common for stepmums to ask it because they aren't sure. DH needs to enforce it - you're just a naggy female

More alarming than this stanky Skid is the fact that daddy is such a POS failed parent that he lets it happen.

smh

Ugh! I fear we're headed in that direction with SS9. According to DH, BM is pretty lazy about stuff. SS will bathe when told, but we chronically have to remind him to flush the toilet, wash his hands, put on clean underwear after a shower. He doesn't like to wear socks, so his shoes and feet stink like crazy unless we order him to wear them. His pants frequently smell like urine and we're not sure why (on the list for discussion at next check-up). He's not full-on wetting himself, but at least leaking. He doesn't seem to notice or care. Surely kids at school can smell it?!?

Fortunately, DH is a neat freak with a sensitive nose, so I never have to say a word, but no matter what, SS just doesn't care or remember.

I guess I am lucky...no stinky bio kids here. Gosh, even the skids would shower daily WAYYY back when.

Hey, NEW family rule at dads. At 8pm all electronics go in this wicker basket. You get it back AFTER I smell you????and you pass? OH and all clothing is in your laundry basket too.

***side thought of mine: I could not open my one teens bedroom door this morning,,,clothing tossed all over the floor WTH,,, did they pull all the clothing out of the drawers and toss them?***lol

My SSs (both  14) will come to our home and wear the same clothes all weekend without showering. I used to remind them that it was a good idea to shower after playing sports or running around with friends. I also bought deodorant, toothpaste, etc. But, I stopped because they mostly ignore me and I don't spend that much time with them when they are here, so I don't typically notice the smell. Fortunately, DH is not above saying, "you stink! You need to take a shower!" to either kid and he's not nice about it, either. He hates smelly things, so they don't have a choice. 

Really, though, I wonder how often they change or shower at BM's house. She doesn't like to "fight" with them, so probably never. 

I think I was 13 when I fully realized the benefit of a shower. I was showering daily at that point for over a year, because my mother insisted upon it, but it wasn't until I went to sleepover summer camp and felt so much better after washing all the dirt and grime off during daily shower time that I realized how a shower is something to want to do, rather than something that is a chore.