How to Get Teens to Hang Up Their Towels: 10 Fail-Proof Solutions

10 easy, effectiveways to get teens to hang up their towels after every single shower!

“Hang up your towel!”  “Where’d you leave your towel?”  “Why is this towel on the floor?” “Is that where your towel belongs?”  On and on it goes….

Sound familiar?  If you have teenagers you might be able to relate.  I have two teenage boys, and despite me asking those questions eleventy-billion times a week,  they STILL leave their towels on the floor almost every day.  In the grand scheme of life, I know this is small potatoes. They’re good kids, and I count my blessings daily, but truly…. the towels on the floor drive me crazy.

Yelling Lady Via Shutterstock / Green Towel Via Shutterstock

So imagine this irony: a few days ago, one of my readers wrote to me looking for solutions to get her teenager to stop leaving his towels on the floor after showering.

Obviously, I had no words of wisdom for her, so I posted the question on my Happy Hooligans Facebook Page.  My followers are always so awesome and generous when it comes to sharing advice based on their own experiences.

I asked them simply:

“How do you stop a teenager from leaving wet towels on the floor?”

And they answered!  Oh my, did they answer!  They offered up dozens of brilliant, easy and effective solutions.  Most were so logical, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of them myself.

And today, I’m sharing them with YOU, because hey, if you’ve read this far, it’s pretty likely you have someone leaving their towel on the floor at your house too.  Hang in there!  Help is on the way!

Before you begin:

Read through the following suggestions, and choose a system that will work for you. Explain to the family how the system will work, what the expectation is, and what the consequences will be.  Be positive and calm and make sure everyone completely understands.  This will ensure all family members take ownership for their actions and consequences in the days to come. Try not to jump up and down, giddy with glee during this step.  I know you’ll want to. 😉

10 Fail-Proof Ways to Get Teens to Hang Up Their Towels After Every Shower

 

1.  Hang an Over-the-Door Towel Rack on the back of all bedroom doors, or install some wall hooks in every bedroom.   Family members get 2-4 towels for the week.  Lock up all extra towels.  Any towels found on the floor during the week will be confiscated. ** Locking up your towels might sound extreme, but many people said it worked while establishing new towel-hanging habits.

2. Give your kids colour-coded towels.  At the beginning of the week, each person gets a set of towels in their colour.  (Lock up extras).  All towels found on the floor will be confiscated, and if they run out of towels, siblings will have to barter with each other or “purchase” an extra towel from you.

3. Every time you find a wet towel on the floor, lovingly place it on your teen’s pillow or in his bed.  He’ll get the message loud and clear without you ever saying a word.

4. Turn off the WIFI until showers are over and towels are hung up.

5. Have your teen hand over his cell phone before showering.  He can collect them when all towels are hung up.  If he showers while you’re out, and you come home to find a towel on the floor, he has to hand his cell phone over until the next time he showers.

6. Every time you find a towel on the floor, claw back some of their privileges:  

Allowance – ? dollars per towel.

Curfew – 30 minutes per towel.

Car privileges – 1 hour per towel.

7.  For every question your kids ask, answer first with:  “Did you hang up your towel?”  I.e:

Q: “Dad, can I have the car?”  A:”Did you hang up your towel?”

Q: “Mom, can I go to the mall?”  A: “Did you hang up your towel?”

Q: “Dad, can I have some money”?  A: “Did you hang up your towel?”

Q “Mom, is there anything to eat?”  A: “Did you hang up your towel?”

8. Put a plastic storage tote in his room.  When you find a towel on the floor, toss it in.  If those are his only towels, they’ll get smelly quickly, and he’ll be stuck using them.  If they become ruined, have him replace them with his own money.

9. Make a sign reminding him to pick up his towel, and hang it where he can’t miss it when he’s leaving the bedroom or the house for the day.  Have some fun with it.  If you inject some humour and love into it, he may comply with this initiative quite nicely.

10. For every towel found on the floor, your teen must do a load of laundry from start to finish: wash, dry, fold, put away.

*********************************

So??  What do you think?  Totally do-able right?  Aren’t you excited?  Think about it – in just a few days, you’ll be seeing THIS:

 

As an extra note: based on the many responses to this question when I asked my followers, it seems it’s not just the kids (ahem) who are leaving their wet towels on the floor, so if you put one of these practices into place at home, you can be assured that one day, your teenager’s future wife will appreciate that you did. 😉

More solutions for parenting challenges:

When Your Baby Won’t Take a Bottle

When Your Child Won’t Poop on the Potty

How to Wean Your Child from the Pacifier

When your Child Hates Bath Time

 

Get 3-5 Playful Preschool e-Book!

25+preschool activities by 25 bloggers, 10 printables, 50 links to activities not featured in the book all for $8.99!

Download your copy today:

 

Follow the Hooligans on Facebook