Do you glue things to your children? Lost items.

I am about to start. This week, my 6 year old lost his umbrella (he thinks it made it to school) and his brand new jacket (he thinks it is in his classroom). We have name labels on both but well some people don't care about that so my guess is they won't be returned.

Any advice? We've decided to make him pay for the jacket (it was $30) to try and teach him that lost things do cost $$. The umbrella we are not replacing and he is going to have to carry my ugly one on days it rains.

 

I think over the ~6 weeks of school, we've lost water bottles multiple times, a lunchbox twice, and a couple of thermoses and tupperwares. Everything made it to either the lost & found or their cubbies in the classroom eventually, but sometimes it takes a day or two.

The lost & found at our elementary school is completely overflowing, so clearly it's a widespread problem! I'm amazed how many really nice jackets, backpacks, etc. have been there for weeks. Do people not miss these things? I guess maybe there are a lot of kids who take the bus or otherwise get to & from school without their parents being there, so the parents don't have an opportunity to come in and look for themselves.

Anyway, I hope he gets his umbrella & jacket back! I might talk to him about what he's expected to do with things when he's at school. Our kids' teachers are very strict that every.single.thing they take out of their backpacks during the day has to go back in when they're done using it (and even then, things get lost). Maybe as they get older, the teachers are less strict and the problem actually gets worse. Sounds like a good idea to make him pay for the jacket.

 

The only we have missed long term is a new bow. Everything else has shown back up when we have asked about it. I called the schools lost and found about it being missing and they didn't have it. I called the principal about a security issue after that and about a week later it showed up. He said they have a lot of kids steal them .

 

Lucky for me I pick Jesse up from school and I take inventory before we leave the school. We've had to go back to the classroom twice to retrieve his forgotten jacket. Our schools lost and found is over flowing already .. so I agree that it's a widespread problem.

 

I do inventory every night, and then write in the agenda what needs to be looked for the next day. I am also at the school once a week, so I go through the lost and found to find missing things. Today I found the coat that he left outside yesterday. The rainboots are still missing. Everything is labeled (Mabel's Label's are great), but they do not check labels before going in lost and found. When there are assemblies that parents come to, the stuff gets spread all over the stemps in the grand hall, so that stuff can be claimed.

My daughter has had to buy herself new mittens, after loosing two pairs her first year of public school (grade 3 for her) She still has those mitts two years later, so there is hope.

Mine eat in their classrooms, so we have not had issues with the lunch box containers going missing.

T

 

We found his jacket! YAY! My friend who works there asked in the office for me and for some reason they kept it in the office rather than send it to lost and found.

 

Well that's a relief !!

 

We are still missing an umbrella and the school is on the hunt for it. LOL

 

Umbrella came home today! DS#1's teacher found it in the lost and found.

 

Oh he got lucky! (I have an extra umbrella or eight. One of them is even girly, he could be so embarassed!)