[Sabrina]

Part of me wants to know what I'm doing wrong!!! My son (14 years) has my example to live by. And I set that example every day. Yet his room is trashed (almost), and he leaves his stuff lying around everywhere, all the time. He is constantly losing things because he can't remember where he left them. I know this might be normal age appropriate behaviour but I can't help but wish he inherited some neat genes from me.

[roads]

Oh, Sabrina ... I'm guessing there's evidence right this moment in 90% of the rooms of 14-yr-old boys in the western world that there's no such thing as a neatness gene. And if there is, it goes dormant from about age 12 or 13 till ... till ......... well, maybe about 30, but often never.

Men, as a species, are messy. Some suspect that's somewhere on the list of why god invented women.

[Travelinglady]

I agree. I think most males tend to tolerate more mess than the average woman does. My two sons came home from college over the summer for a bit, and I wish they had straightened out their rooms more before they left. My younger son did leave his room better than it was when he first came home anyway.

Sabrina, My son is the same he is so messy he is 16 and tends to keep his room so untidy , I am fed up telling him where the laundry basket is. Maybe it the terrible teens? My 14 year old daughter is the same too but she has autism.

[BlueInanna]

Sabrina,
I wish I inherited your genes!! can't organize worth a darn, it's partly add, but it's horrible. My mother was messy and my father was more neat. Every man I've dated has been the neat one that helps me with my messiness.

possibly a healthy normal kid sign that your 14 yr old is messy!

[Victoria'smom]

My son's room always looks like a disaster. I can't even step into it and he's only 10! When I get sick of it I throw everything on his bed so that he can't sleep until it's put away. There are time that he has just grabbed his pillow and blanket and slept on the floor but that doesn't last long. My rooms a mess too but we keep the common area's neat.