Labels on belongings

[Pumpkin_Pie]

I am so sick and tired of DS's belongings not coming home. I have written on every article of clothing that I send there, but I regularly find things in other kid's cubbies, and my very favorite pair of his mittens which have his name written on them in black sharpie and had a string through them and were IN his coat are now gone.

How on earth do you label things???? I try so hard to have everything labeled, and when I forget to label something like his socks, that ends up being the day that he takes them off for whatever reason. I sent him in orange spider leg warmers last week, and forgot to label them, and it took me almost a week to get them back.

Any ideas? I did hear about Oliverslabels.com, but they are insanely expensive. I am getting desperate...

[annethcz]

It sounds to me like the problem isn't necessarily a lack of labeling, but a lack of organization on your ds's part. I don't mean this as an accusation. It's just that some kids just aren't very good at keeping track of their things. I have one child who can take 3 different pairs of shoes and 2 pairs of mittens to school and come home with all of them. I have another child who lost his COAT already, and it's only October. *sigh*

It doesn't sound like the items are lost for good, just that they're forgotten for a few days or end up in other kids' cubbies. I don't think better labeling is going to help. Your best bet is to talk to your DS about the importance of taking care of his things. Remind him of what he should do when he gets to school- that he should hang up his coat and put his hat/mittens in his coat pocket or backpack. I also try to remind my kids when I pick them up- I ask if they remembered to bring home everything they brought to school.

[lindberg99]

I have come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter if you label stuff or not.

At my kids' school, they just seem to fling it all in the lost and found. My DD left her lunch box at school and then couldn't find it the next day. I went up the next day and it was thrown in the lost and found. Now, I'm assuming a teacher or staff member picked it up and threw it in the lost and found. Now, I'm sure they have to pick up a lot of lost things each day but couldn't they have taken 15 seconds to see that her name was in there and gotten it back to her??

She's also lost a coat that had our last name and phone number clearly written in it. Sure, she obviously took it off and left it sitting somewhere which she shouldn't have done but shouldn't the person who found it have tried to call us instead of keeping it or whatever they did with it?

The school is so big on "label this, label that" but IMO, it doesn't make a difference in getting it back whether it is labeled or not. I just gave up buying nice stuff for school, I buy my kids those cheap gloves that are like 2 pairs for a dollar, etc.

[ollyoxenfree]

Originally Posted by lindberg99

At my kids' school, they just seem to fling it all in the lost and found. My DD left her lunch box at school and then couldn't find it the next day. I went up the next day and it was thrown in the lost and found. Now, I'm assuming a teacher or staff member picked it up and threw it in the lost and found. Now, I'm sure they have to pick up a lot of lost things each day but couldn't they have taken 15 seconds to see that her name was in there and gotten it back to her??

It's so frustrating, I know. I've concluded that the labels are just to make it easier for parents to fish stuff out of the lost and found . Kind of like the luggage claim at the airport - all those identical lunchboxes and hats and mitts and shoes.

[lindberg99]

Yeah, I guess that's true about labels just making it easier to find your child's stuff.

[tbone_kneegrabber]

Originally Posted by lindberg99

I have come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter if you label stuff or not.

At my kids' school, they just seem to fling it all in the lost and found. My DD left her lunch box at school and then couldn't find it the next day. I went up the next day and it was thrown in the lost and found. Now, I'm assuming a teacher or staff member picked it up and threw it in the lost and found. Now, I'm sure they have to pick up a lot of lost things each day but couldn't they have taken 15 seconds to see that her name was in there and gotten it back to her??

She's also lost a coat that had our last name and phone number clearly written in it. Sure, she obviously took it off and left it sitting somewhere which she shouldn't have done but shouldn't the person who found it have tried to call us instead of keeping it or whatever they did with it?

The school is so big on "label this, label that" but IMO, it doesn't make a difference in getting it back whether it is labeled or not. I just gave up buying nice stuff for school, I buy my kids those cheap gloves that are like 2 pairs for a dollar, etc.

The responsibility is on the owner to come find the item, not the finder ime. So you label it to "prove" its yours, not to have it returned.

Oh and if I found a coat I would never call the number in it, because all of my ds' clothes are from the thrift store and labeled with other people's names and numbers, so I wouldn't call because I feel like I would have no way to know if the number was current. I would stick it in a lost and found if I was somewhere with one.

[CarrieMF]

At my kids' school, they just seem to fling it all in the lost and found. My DD left her lunch box at school and then couldn't find it the next day. I went up the next day and it was thrown in the lost and found. Now, I'm assuming a teacher or staff member picked it up and threw it in the lost and found. Now, I'm sure they have to pick up a lot of lost things each day but couldn't they have taken 15 seconds to see that her name was in there and gotten it back to her??

when I worked at the school my kids go to anything went into the lost & found. We didn't check & see whose it was. Part of being in school is teachign responsibility including responsibility for their belongings & going to the lost & found if they realized they had lost something. It's the first place they were sent to. The only time I asked was if I was on the playground & was picking up after recess & I knew whose jacket/mitts/etc it was & I happened to run into them once I was back in the school before I got to the lost & found.

[Tigerchild]

Honestly, if there's anything at all that I would be terribly hearbroken if it was lost (like the mittens knitted by great grandma susie before she passed away, ect.) then I don't send it to school.

Maybe my kids' school just has to run as a tighter ship than others, but no, actually the staff do NOT have time to look through the items for name labels and then try to find out what class they're in and then return them. The lunch attendants/playground attendants are all either volunteers OR are staff members at the school who have other duties immediately before and after. Unless it's a very small school, even if it only took 2 minutes to find the label and run it to the class and put it in the right cubby, if there are 10 items left on the playground that's 20 minutes that the staff just doesn't have.

I agree with a PP that it's primarily the student's responsibility to get things turned in and taken care of properly, even in 1st grade. IME, they do get better at it as time goes on. As a parent, if my kids are missing things then I always have THEM search through the stuff in lost and found (so that they know where it is too). As a kindness, if they see things in there that are labeled to friends then I have them take those to the classroom to put in that child's cubby.

I think having to deal with lost and found stuff is just part and parcel of going places. Churches, restaurants, stores, ect...you will always find stuff that people have misplaced or left behind.

So I think the key is to teach your child how to care for their belongings, don't send anything that's going to tear you up if it disappears, and teach your kiddo where to find the lost and found and how to look for their things.