<p>I feel silly asking this question, but I don’t know whether to iron on name labels to clothes my son brings to college. In some respects, it seems kind of junvenile, but what if he leaves something somehwhere? What’s the consenus? Is there a forum on this site for first timers sending their kids to college?</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone does this and for sure your son will be embarrassed if someone notices. If your son leaves something somewhere and no one swipes it, it’ll either stay there or be taken to a lost and found–as happens with you and your own possessions. Just another example of how kids have to start acting like adults once they head off to college.</p>
<p>Oh, honey, no! It’s not necessary to iron on him name to his clothes. </p>
<p>Your kid will be teased unmercifully if you do this and anyone notices. And someone will!. This isn’t summer camp!</p>
<p>No. Do not do this. </p>
<p>My kid did have her black down coat taken from a party. Maybe if D1’s name was on it, someone would have known it wasn’t hers. I think you could get a permanent marker to write your kid’s name on the label. I remember I used to do that when kids were younger.</p>
<p>A sharpie for expensive back packs, down jackets etc is worthwhile. Names for ordinary clothes that go in the laundry – not necessary. </p>
<p>And get your kid to activate find my phone for their phone and laptop – freshman year, we had more than a few calls about “I lost my phone/laptop or it was stolen” – being able to sign onto find my iPhone etc to show where it was was very useful. </p>
<p>Every one has a black down TNF jacket.
If he is worried about misplacing his stuff, buy stuff that isn’t as common, but don’t put his name on it.</p>
<p>It would be more merciful to shoot him today.</p>
<p>I would hope your son would be responsible enough by now to keep track of his belongings or to deal with the consequences if he leaves something somewhere.</p>
<p>No. Just…no. This college, he is a big boy. No.</p>
<p>No, no, no…agree he’s a big boy now. Oh my, I hope this is a joke. </p>
<p>Well, I do this before sending my own clothes to the drycleaner (with a sharpie on the label where possible). And I made my daughter write her name on the labels of her expensive towels and any clothing with her school’s logo – too easy for there to be (accidental or on-purpose) mix-ups with such items. So it is not totally crazy.</p>
<p>Freshman year, S didn’t have a problem with “losing” clothes, but soph. roommate kept “borrowing” his socks. (School had a dress code, dress socks were needed.) By Xmas break there were none left. I bought another pack of socks and put a colored stitch in each one, so S could easily identify his, and roomie couldn’t claim they were his. Turned out to be unnecessary. Roomie flunked out and didn’t return after Xmas.
One thing that kids learn in college if they haven’t learned it already: people will steal your stuff. Lock it up. Never leave your laundry unattended. Still a good idea to mark coats, backpacks that look like everyone else’s. </p>
<p>In our family, we sometimes sharpie initials on clothing tags of expensive items or items that everyone seems to have. I know D did this to her college swag (since lots of people have the same ones) and I remember doing that to my towels and a few key items when I was in school. Iron-on labels for college is a no-no but it’s not a ridiculous thought to tag certain pieces. </p>
<p>I think it’s kind of a sweet, naive question. </p>
<p>Think of this way, OP: Do you routinely have iron-on labels for your own clothing? If not, then your son won’t need it either. </p>
<p>You dont have to mark them, but you can personalize them.
Stickers on laptops, ribbons on backpacks, pins on jackets.
Name tags indicate that you * expect* an adult living away from home, not to be able to keep track of their things.
Are you going to make daily wake up calls too?</p>
<p>I think that what putting name tags in really does is expect everyone else living around him to check and return lost items to him. Not gonna happen. </p>
<p>I quit doing nametags when my D came home from camp with a bunch of underwear not hers. All the nametags did was allow me to but a name with a panty. No one ever gave me her stuff back, nor did I give back any of the stuff I got. </p>
<p>I agree with putting name and phone # on valuable items though. My D left her violin in the cafeteria once, and was notified by a security guard. That was nice.</p>
<p>I marked D’s North Face black fleece a few years ago with just an inconspicuous mark on the tag because EVERYONE had one at the time. But nothing else!!</p>
<p>Also, your kid could apply patches, symbols in Rub-a-Dub Sharpie, and other “flair” to his big stuff (coats, backpack, even scooter, etc.) so they are identifiable. But iron-on labels would be uncool. </p>