Oh my word, little boys can be so stinky!
Don’t get me started on middle school age!
Someone please, make it stop! LOL!

*disclaimer*
Yes, I know there are little girls who have hygiene issues. Yes, I know there are little girls who have pungent pee. There are even little girls who exude that dense, skunk-like boy sweat musk. However for the most part this is something in particular to boys. Ok thanks for understanding. and now on to:

The Evolution of Stankness in Your Son’s Life: a Mini-Guide

Ages birth-2
If your son is your first baby he may not have any stankness at all. First-time mothers are awesome about daily baths and wiping down baby frequently and changing his clothes. Boys at this age do not usually have a very strong or even noticeable male odor or boy musk smell.

Ages 2-4
Boys have discovered pockets and the wonders of all that is filthy. They begin to hoard small objects in their pockets and seem fascinated by making messes. But they also like baths and bubbles so getting them clean is not usually a problem. Around age 2 toilet training fun begins. Your son does not exude a heavy male sweat yet, but his pee definitely smells different from yours. You know this because he leaves it all over the bathroom and sticks his hands in your face after leaving the bathroom.

Ages 4-7
You have managed to teach your son to pee in the toilet and wash his hands frequently and to bathe himself alone. Around age 6 comes the resistance to washing, changing underwear frequently, and cleaning his room or personal space. Be vigilent, mamas! If you give up control at this age it is hard to get it back, believe me! Make your son wash his body frequently as well as put on clean under and outer clothing.

*side note*
This is the age where boys become amateur scientists and/or detectives. They cannot walk down the street without picking up every rock, stick, or bit of trash they see, the dirtier the better, and if it is a bug or worm it will make their day. If you are a first-time mother and/or this is your only son, you may find his vast collection of rocks, bits of broken plastic, rubber bands, sticks of assorted sizes, and bugs cute. You may find youself daydreaming about your son’s future Nobel prize and how you will say, I always knew he had an interest in archeology/botany/entomology/whatever. Yeah. Cut that out. Now don’t squash his dreams or creativity or nothing, but occassionally purge his collection with his assistance. Don’t be swayed by cries of ‘But it’s a CLUE, mama!’ or ‘That’s a dinosaur fossil, mama!’ when he insists that he has to keep everything. Give him a space to keep his stuff in, like a shoebox or whatever, and when it is full help him decide what to keep and what to let go. On bugs, talk to him about liberating them so they can go home to their mother. that one always worked with my boys.
*side note off*

Ages 8-10
The male smell may be noticeable in your son at this age. But it is more likely his stank is from not washing. Boys want privacy at this age too, before they might not have cared if you came in the bathroom while they were washing, but now they want privacy. Why? You might think it’s modesty, but no. They want privacy so they can muck about in the bathroom pretending to wash. Now if you can get them in the tub, they will actually stay in a nice amount of time. Bubbles may or not work, so be prepared to have to put your foot down. Be firm! They will resist! You may find you have to relax your personal standards on hygiene and compromise with your son. Maybe he doesn’t need to wash every day. Perhaps a bath or showever every other day or every 2 days will suffice to keep the stank away. Whatever, just make him stick to it.

*Important note: if you don’t make him wash every day still make him change his underwear (and socks) daily. You will actually have to tell him this, in my experience. and oh yeah, he may need deodorant at this age.

Ages 10-12
The Male Smell has come on with a vengeance. Your son definitely needs deodorant. It seems like he has begun sweating out of every pore. His bedroom or personal space smells like a locker room. He has become highly resistant to bathing, and does not respond/care about social pressure because all his friends are stinky too. You have a group of his friends over and you are knocked out by the group male stank. However still insist that he bathe regularly, put on clean clothing, brush his teeth, etc. You may have to send him back to wash more than once, and you may have to remind him frequently. But this phase will pass, so I’m told, so take heart and wait it out. You know that someday his boy smell will change into a mature man musk that somebody will find pleasing but to you, right now, all it smells like is some human version of skunk.

My oldest is 12, so that’s where I’m at. Mamas of teen boys, please tell me this gets better relatively soon.

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