Gum on the inside of my washer

[mmace]

Yes, it's a teen thing.

Over and over and over again I've asked my daughter to check her pockets before throwing dirty clothes in the laundry. And over and over and over again she doesn't do it. Nine times out of ten I check everything before I throw it into the washer, but every once in a while things sneak in. I've always just cleaned up the mess and asked her to do better, but it doesn't really seem to be helping. I've made the rule that anything I find in the laundry is automatically mine - including money, "love" notes, pens, etc.

I just went to throw stuff from the washer to the dryer and I found a chapstick and a lipgloss at the bottom of the machine, and about eight pieces of gum stuck to the sides. Would it be out of line for me to ask her to scrape it off? It wouldn't be hard, it would come right off with a little finger-nail action. I'm not angry about it, and won't be angry when she gets home, I'm just frustrated....

Thoughts?!

[MillingNome]

I don't think it would be out of place to ask her to clean it up.

[mmace]

Just a quick update - - - my daughter came home from school yesterday, and after the normal "How was your day?" "What do you have for homework?" stuff, I asked her to go upstairs and look in the washer. She immediately yelled back down "I'm so sorry!" and when I walked up to answer her she was already scraping the gum off the inside of the machine. I didn't have to ask her - she just *knew* she needed to do it. To me, that is a big sign of responsibility, and when dealing with a thirteen year old girl, I'm thrilled to see any sign of responsibility! Anyway, it took her less than two minutes, the gum scraped off easily with her finger-nail, she rescued her lip gloss and chapstick, and hopefully she'll check her pockets more carefully next time!

[2tadpoles]

I frequently wash my own lipgloss, money, etc.

I've washed a pen a time or two, as well.

[mmace]

Oh trust me, I've missed things in the wash myself - - - it's just with my daughter it is every. single. time. Like I said, it wasn't out of anger, it wasn't even meant to be a punishment, it just seemed logical that since I've been asking her over and over and over again not to keep that stuff in her pockets (especially the gum, since they aren't even allowed to chew gum at school anyway!) that she should help clean it. And she did! Without a word of complaint, without my ever even having to ask, she cleaned it out.

[2tadpoles]

That is great!

My 15yo ds is just starting to be self-motivated like that. He's always been a self-absorbed kind of person, so it gladdens my heart when he steps up to do something for someone else or to take responsibility for cleaning up his messes without being nagged.

I'm trying to be a little more vigilant about taking things out of my own pockets before laundry day, actually. I washed a lip gloss a few weeks ago, the kind that's in a pot rather than a tube. The top came loose during the wash and lip gloss got all over a few articles of clothing. It took three more washes with Spray-N-Wash and warm water to get the greasy spots off.

[MillingNome]

Hey Mmace- that's so cool! Good for her