When can we stop labeling everything with names

[Anonymous]

My high schooler labels some of her own things. I labeled my 6th grader’s stuff this year, just her lunchbox, bottom of her water bottle,and school supplies. I mostly do this so she can tell the difference between hers and someone else’s at first glance because she likes to follow trends and often all of her friends have the same exact things. My 2nd grader , I still label mostly everything. It is a bit pointless, though. In all the years of labeling none of my kids’ items have ever been returned to them, some things they recovered in the lost and found and others someone probably found and took them home or threw them away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't really matter though. Our school doesn't try to contact the kids if they find the items.

Right?! It's frustrating

[Anonymous]

I probably stopped labeling clothes in HS, but I still label all kinds of stuff - my own water bottle, dishes that go to potlucks, camping chairs, pool towels ... basically anything that will be left alone in a group situation.

[Anonymous]

My kids wear uniforms, so I label stuff so that we know which ones to pull out of lost and found, and to hopefully prevent other kids from mistakenly taking their stuff. Anything else that might look similar to other kids’, like water bottles and calculators, also gets labeled.

My kids are HS and 7th. I’d stop with the HS kid by now but he loses EVERYTHING.

[Anonymous]

I have a middle schooler - she labeled her binders, her pencil case, and her water bottle on her own before school started.

[Anonymous]

I write our last name on the bottom of water bottles with a sharpie, but that's it. Like a PP mentioned, after elementary school they weren't ever getting anything back they left behind. MS and HS kids just keep whatever they find so the label would be pointless. It's gone forever.