Teens and Towels

My kids take a lot of showers. A lot. Yes they are teenagers so that is to be expected. They all go to school, play sports and have jobs. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they are clean but they use so many towels! When they were babies we bathed them and had cute little baby towels that were embroidered with their names and duckies and bunnies. They had hoods to dry their silky little baby heads. When they were dry we hung the towel up until the next bath. We were drying off a clean baby after all.

When they were small kids they were so much dirtier and so much harder to get into the tub. We had to drag them in and then drag them out. Once they were in they had a grand old time and didn't want to leave. They still used the cutesy towels and we still hung them up to dry.

Somewhere in the tween years this all changed, as I knew it would. Hey, I was a teenager once too. They suddenly couldn't get enough time to shower and primp. They started using more hair product than I did. Again, I was very grateful for the cleanliness but I swear they took longer than girls. The towels started following them to their rooms, sometimes never to return. We think they may have gone to the land of the missing sock from the dryer and the disappearing plastic plates and cups. When they did make the journey back they were always on the floor somewhere. Now, I do vacuum really I do, but with three kids and three dogs I just didn't want to be drying my clean self off with those furry towels. Into the hamper they went. And the towels weren't so cute anymore. In fact they were all starting to get down right ratty. Those wedding gifts can only last so long you know.

They are all teens now and one is even 20 (gulp!) They still have the same habits and my husband and I have to make a dash for the bathroom door whenever we see it open. Sometimes we make it sometimes we don't. Sometimes the towels get hung up to dry, sometimes they don't. They are better about it but consider what I am comparing that to. So I wash a lot of towels. With all of the showers it's usually a load every day, but I'm home and I can do laundry. I don't mind. We've even bought a few new towels along the way, the bigger the better. We don't have the bath sheets though. Ooh la la! Sometimes they cost more than real sheets. I can't see paying that much for something that's going to end up on the floor shortly after use. We seem to have picked up a few beach towels along the way too and they really like those. I don't recognize them or know where they came from. My kids insist it's no big deal and they won't be missed. In fact they were encouraged to take them from wherever they came from. Ha! Not by any of the moms I know. They need those beach towels for their own kids to throw on the floor!

So my kids are usually very clean and non-stinky. I can't say the same for their rooms though. Yuck. But that's another story. And if that's the worse thing my kids decide to do I will sing from the roof tops and maybe even do two loads of laundry every day. I really, really have great kids. They just use a lot of towels. A lot.