Question for parents of teenagers

[MgMt_Home_Brew]

Yeah I graduated in '02 and I remeber showering in some shorts. It doesn't really make much sense but thats what eveyone else did so I just followed suit.

However now when i am at the gym I take a shower like a normal person but I am still not as free with being naked as some of the old timers there. I guess it's just the direction things are moving.

 

[jmulligan]

Graduated in 1999, played several sports, and no one ever showered after practices or games (only exception was swim team, where you might jump in the shower, fully suited, just to rinse the chlorine from your hair). As has been said, you're heading home anyway, and who wants to hang around school longer than necessary? (Not to mention, being a girl, you'd have to carry around an assload of products.)

My cohort was never given the option of a shower after PE. Same as others, there was absolutely no time. You were lucky to get changed, gather your crap, and rush off to the next class on time, let alone get a few minutes to soap up your pits.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

Wow... I hadn't even thought about the swimmers.... I believe they all want to join a nudist colony. The were one nude bunch. I heard the girls were pretty crazy as well.

I find it strange that PE teachers are not giving time to shower and clean up. So you guys (and girls) all just went to your other classes all sweaty? That sounds pretty nasty. I bet it really helped with the acne too

 

[blacklab]

I was in high school in the late 80's and everyone showered. We always showered after games and practice. Especially football. Football weather in Oregon is basically rain and mud. No shower = covered in mud.

In Jr. high, I still recall the old school PE teacher with the tight @ss Bike shorts and the whistle. He would sit by the door to the locker room and make sure everyone showered. Wouldn't let you leave unless you did, or had a note from a Dr.

I can understand skipping the shower if you're going right home to shower there, but going out, or going back to class without showering? That's naaaasty! as Cleveland would say.

 

[srm775]

However now when i am at the gym I take a shower like a normal person but I am still not as free with being naked as some of the old timers there. I guess it's just the direction things are moving.

No, really sure if that's the direction society is headed. I think old-timers just don't care and I understand more and more every passing year. With each passing year, I just don't give a crap. I do what I'm gonna do and leave.

I know at my old gym, the old timers would just hang out (there was a little tv room in the locker room) naked and carry on conversations with each other in the buff.

 

[Bobby_M]

Two years in a row I had first period gym class. I used to go to school unshowered, have class, and be the only one hitting the shower afterward. It was my morning shower. I took a lot of heat because no one else showered and I was ALWAYS late to my next class because we were given 2 minutes to change. It took that long for the water to hit "warm". The staff couldn't argue against showers given the level of activity they expected so I never got in trouble about being late to period 2.

 

[shecky]

I graduated from a tiny Catholic high school way back in the dark ages (1986). Small school had a tiny lockerroom and showers that apparently hadn't been cleaned since 1972. I played football, basketball and baseball and never, never showered after practice. Never after PE either, given the time constraints between classes.

I always waited until I got home. Not because of any phobia other than the disgusting nature of the school's showers. Playing baseball the next year in college was luxurious. Great facilities. I even showered there rather than the dorm when we weren't in season.

 

[cubbies]

I know at my old gym, the old timers would just hang out (there was a little tv room in the locker room) naked and carry on conversations with each other in the buff.

That is one thing that always amazed me. I don't really make a big deal about being nude in front of other guys at a gym or whatever. If I can avoid it I will, but it is not a huge deal. But the old guys, also at my old gym, were completely careless. Like you say, completely nude talking and carrying on with one another. One day there was one sitting on a bench putting his socks on, while another was standing in front of him shootin the breeze. The guys junk couldn't have been more than 15 inches from his face. They just carried on like nothing was out of the ordinary though. I thought it was pretty funny.

 

[jmulligan]

I find it strange that PE teachers are not giving time to shower and clean up. So you guys (and girls) all just went to your other classes all sweaty? That sounds pretty nasty. I bet it really helped with the acne too

Luckily in high school, our gym teachers didn't demand much physical activity out of the girls (mostly because most of the girls I went to school with were b*tches that wouldn't walk fast or jog even if the teacher told them to, and would then curse out the teacher on top of it). So, I was given a soccer ball and allowed to go practice against the outdoor side of the gym for an hour. No shower necessary after that.

Middle school on the other hand, we were expected to get sweaty and run around, and definitely given no time to shower. You just dealt with it, and it wasn't that terrible, considering most of your friends were stinky at that point too.

 

[Kilgore_Trout]

Shower's were optional in my high school, they were available but I never saw them used by most students. Haven't been required to take a shower in that district in PE since '78 (give or take a few years, rusty memory).

Occasionally athletes would rinse off, but usually they'd just take off their shirt and rinse their head in the water.

 

[blacklab]

I wonder how these kids are going to handle college? At UO, the dorms are the same as they were back in the day. And back then it was pretty much a wall of open showers, just like high school. No home to go to in college for a quick shower.

But then the Oregon campus usually reeks anyway because of all the dang hippies, so perhaps it's not an issue.

 

[wildwest450]

Luckily in high school, our gym teachers didn't demand much physical activity out of the girls (mostly because most of the girls I went to school with were b*tches that wouldn't walk fast or jog even if the teacher told them to, and would then curse out the teacher on top of it).

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x42R6jqkreQ&feature=related]YouTube - Cat Fight[/ame]

 

[MgMt_Home_Brew]

No, really sure if that's the direction society is headed. I think old-timers just don't care and I understand more and more every passing year. With each passing year, I just don't give a crap. I do what I'm gonna do and leave.

I know at my old gym, the old timers would just hang out (there was a little tv room in the locker room) naked and carry on conversations with each other in the buff.

Yeah I ment that society was heading in the direction of not being nude and all that good stuff. I understand that old timers like my dad just don't care if they are naked and will simply hang out (pun intended) and chit chat in the nude. Hell one guy would always shave at the gym naked I personaly would have wrapped a towel around myself but hey, what ever floats his boat.

 

[AnonyBrew]

Here is an article from NY Times in 1996!!!

It pretty much states much of what is being said here. It would seem the drop in showering happened between 1990ish and the time of the article.

Students Still Sweat, They Just Don't Shower - New York Times

Stink or Embarrassment? Which is the lesser of two evils?

That sounds about right. I graduated in 1987 and showering was normal back then. So looks like 1990 was the switch.

 

[McCall St. Brewer]

Wow, this is all very strange to me. Guys are afraid to be nude around each other? Weird. When I was in school, and we all took showers after gym and after sports practices, the men's locker rooms all had communal shower rooms. The women's locker rooms did not. When we would go on the road for basketball games, we would have to use their locker rooms and they had shower stalls, with curtains. We thought that was strange because we thought nothing of being nude in the locker rooms. It was not a sexual thing and I don't remember anyone ever being picked on for how much or little they were "endowed." I remember a lot of wet towel fights, but that's about it.

I used to go sometimes to a private athletic club that had separate facilities for men and women members. Until about two years ago, most men who swam in the pool there swam nude. I guess they changed that now, but until recently no one ever thought much at all about it.

I think I must be really getting old. I think I'll go watch a Lawrence Welk Show re-run on PBS.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

I never showered at school in the boy's changing rooms. I never actually worked up a sweat anyway during gym etc.

The only time I became interested in communal showers was when I was at our naturist camp. Something about sharing with girls that kept me clean and smelling fresh

 

[EdWort]

I think this nails it for a good number of kids today.

It also seems that a heightened awareness of sexuality, including the more open discussion in high schools today about homosexuality, has left many students fretting. Concern about the presence of gay students was mentioned several times as a reason not to shower.


"You never know who's looking at you," said Vicki Johnson, an 18-year-old from Algonquin, Ill.

Young guys just don't feel comfortable with other guys looking at their junk.

 

[dataz722]

Ok, is anyone else here surprised to see that there are kids from the class of 2000, 2001, and even 2003 active on a beer board?

Hey I resemble that remark

But actually the school that I went to didnt even have showers so we really didn't have a choice. It really was never a big deal because almost everyone played some sport of some sort so we were all smelly together.

 

[Austin_]

I graduated highschool in 2003. I wrestled and showered after practice sometimes, but not all the time. After PE I never showered. When the gym teacher lets you out 3 minutes before you have to go to your next class it makes it kind of hard to fit in a shower.

If a kid is taught to shower he will shower. If no one tells him to shower he will not shower. It's not instinct, it's taught. You have to look at parenting influences and school policies for the last couple decades that shaped the present attitude towards showering.

 

[jgln]

I was in high school in the late 80's and everyone showered. We always showered after games and practice. Especially football. Football weather in Oregon is basically rain and mud. No shower = covered in mud.

In Jr. high, I still recall the old school PE teacher with the tight @ss Bike shorts and the whistle. He would sit by the door to the locker room and make sure everyone showered. Wouldn't let you leave unless you did, or had a note from a Dr.

I can understand skipping the shower if you're going right home to shower there, but going out, or going back to class without showering? That's naaaasty! as Cleveland would say.

Funny, that is exactly how I remember it. PE teacher checking you off a list as you went into the shower which was one big room with a bunch of shower heads. Some kids just ran in and wet their towels to make it appear they showered. That was a shock to me coming from a Catholic school (after 6th grade) where we never had to shower, but then again all we ever really had was recess. Once I got over the shock I showered until I no longer was required to take gym in my senior year of HS. Graduated HS in 78. Man I really feel old now seeing some of your ages.

 

[dataz722]

Man I really feel old now seeing some of your ages.

Its ok. I would say about 98% of the people that I work with are old enough to be my parents... even grand parents for a few. I make sure to remind them of this from time to time.

 

[EdWort]

At Boy Scout summer camps, kids will not shower for an entire week if you let them. They just don't want to do it. These days, the camps recommend "Shower Shorts" for the boy's privacy since most of the camps have old communal showers back in the day when it was not a big deal to shower with other guys.

 

[jgln]

Its ok. I would say about 98% of the people that I work with are old enough to be my parents... even grand parents for a few. I make sure to remind them of this from time to time.

DE huh, I live across the river in Salem Co. NJ.

 

[EdWort]

Its ok. I would say about 98% of the people that I work with are old enough to be my parents... even grand parents for a few. I make sure to remind them of this from time to time.

Ok, sonny. :cross:

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

At Boy Scout summer camps, kids will not shower for an entire week if you let them. They just don't want to do it. These days, the camps recommend "Shower Shorts" for the boy's privacy since most of the camps have old communal showers back in the day when it was not a big deal to shower with other guys.

We had shower shorts when I was in the scouts too. But we were never afraid of the showers.... the latrines on the other hand... lets just say, most little boys are pretty capable of holding off a #2 for a full week or more. Gosh that was tuff!

 

[dataz722]

DE huh, I live across the river in Salem Co. NJ.

Well hell. I live like 15 min from the Del Mem bridge. We should meet up for a beer sometime.

 

[jgln]

Well hell. I live like 15 min from the Del Mem bridge. We should meet up for a beer sometime.

I'd try but these days I barely have time to meet up with my family and friends, besided do you really want to hang out with some old guy?

 

[hostileNabusive]

I think some of it has to do with society too. Doing more in less time. I graduated in '05 and in both middle school and high school we had time between periods cut and our lunch hour too, so we could start at 8am instead of 7:15.

If you get out of gym 5 minutes early 7 minutes after a period is enough time to shower. 3 minutes... not so much

 

[dataz722]

I'd try but these days I barely have time to meet up with my family and friends, besided do you really want to hang out with some old guy?

Well people tell me all the time that I act like an old man . Looking back its probably pretty acurate. Had what most would consider a career by the time i was 18, bought a house at 20, got married at 23 (last month actually ). So compared to the majority of people my age that are still living with their parents I guess I kinda am an old man to them.

 

[EvilTOJ]

I graduated in '95, and no one hardly used the showers. It's kinda hard to when they look exactly like what you'd find in a concentration camp; a big huge open room with hoses sticking out of the walls, with no privacy. They were awful. Combine that with self esteem issues of teenage boys and yea, hardly used ever.

I didn't shower after PE, but that's because I hated it with a passion and it was my form of silent protest.