Pockets!

Why do boys pants have to come with so many pockets? And why do boys think they have to fill them all up? And they pick the oddest things to fill them up with!

I have a system - I always check my pocket when I take my pants OFF. After I married Kenneth, I trained him to do the same so I would not have to check pockets when I do the laundry. Soon after I because the mother of a little boy I realized this would no longer work.

Sometime during the toddler years little boys discover pockets and are determined to fill them up. Twigs, rocks, shells, grass, etc. And you can never throw it out because it's all "treasure." I had to designate a place in the garage for the rocks and sticks because they were simply NOT coming in my house!

Awsumb attends a Montessori school where most of the classroom is hands-on manipulative materials. Because of this the kids come home with beads, puzzle pieces, and other odd items. At the beginning of each year the teachers send the same note home begging parents to "please send any found items back to the classroom... even if the piece seems insignificant because it goes to something in the classroom... please just send it back."

On day when I went in to help in Awsumb's classroom at the beginning of this school year I found him walking around with a couple of other boys getting set up for a project. Awsumb was wearing cargo pants and the sides of his legs were bulging to capacity. I asked him what he was carrying around and he began to list, "Two pencils, a pencil sharpener, an eraser, a glue stick, an extra glue stick, a ruler, scissors (basically his entire pencil box) and a white cloth." I asked what the white cloth was for and I guess he could tell I was about to confiscate it so he became very defensive stating, "but we need it in case our hands get sticky from the glue!"

I began to become suspicious of where the white cloth came from. When I questioned Awsumb he called his friend over and had him lift up his sweat shirt to reveal the backside of the GAP letters that were sewn on. Apparently the backing was itchy, so they removed it and Awsumb thought it would just be the best cleaning cloth! LOL!

YUCK! So this cloth came from the INSIDE of some boys sweatshirt. I don't care who it is that is soooo cooties! I begged him to throw it away reassuring Awsumb that the classroom had a sink in case they needed to wash their hands.

What have you found in your little boys (or girls) pockets?