Modern Madness

Why is it that little girls are so keen to encase themselves in adult-style underwear? Surely 28AA is actually a flat chest!

Training bras sound ridiculous, I agree, as if it's really difficult to wear the things (once you've managed to learn to do them up, I suppose). I've never understood the way some bras are described as Firm Control - gives a vision of flailing boobs walloping passers-by and having to be fed into a strong garment which will keep them from causing mayhem.

Sorry that links not working now... never mind.

Thanks Greatnan , I have bought some Nike ones that are training bras... but I agree they are more often than not called Sports bras.

store.nike.com/us/en_us/?l=shop,pwp,c-1+100701/hf-10001+12002+4294965452+4294967134/t-Women's_Training_Bras

I remember trawling the shops for 28AA bras when my daughter was about 12. Apparently, every other girl in her class wore a bra and she was embarrassed in PE.

tanith What you wear is probably a sports bra, not a training bra (tee hee). I have a vague recollection that training bras were around when I hit puberty about a million years ago.

Perhaps his mum dries his clothes indoors when she's cooking. Fan ovens are bad for this.

Tell his mum to keep him away from doctors!

There are 17 different causes of body odour in children ranging from poor hygene to phenylketonuria! This gives a mousy smell!

Trying to smell it! It smells slightly unwashed.Have you been to his house?could be that the house has the same smell- you know, how some children and their houses just smell of biological washing powder!

jeni He's most likely just starting adolescence early.

Not sure I can answer that without asking him to wiggle his joints. The smell is a bit like a stale food smell though I can't say I'd thought of fish exactly! Is there something I can ask him and all the other cubs to do that would suggest the hyper mobile joints?

He's incapable of being still for more than about two and a half seconds, but he is a boy, and eight, and a very attention-seeking specimen at that. Spends most of his time irritating his pals from what I can see . Not an easy kid.

jeni we are all so lucky to 'know' you.

bagsis the kid smelling of fish and does he have hyper mobile joints? There is a syndrome that links the two?

This sounds a good site for a young girl who has started developing

Some children will need a deodorant sooner than others.

vamp, I did wonder about that because the child in question is not yet eight and a half, which seems too early for the 'hormonal pong' that teenagers can suffer from.

A child with body odour will get stick from other children. A girl in my class at school had poor personal hygiene and nobody wanted to sit next to her. My senior GD had a problem when she was 10 or 11, but eventually got the message and is, at 20, very particular about washing and deodorising.
Bags, why don't you ask the Cubs to invent a personal hygiene badge?

VQ - I had not heard about that. - was there any form of treatment do you remember.

There is a medical condition that makes children smell. I'd never heard of it until we got a child who smelt terribly. Everyone, including his parents, thought it was a hygiene issue and the poor lad's life was hell until they finally took him to the doctors. His body actually produces a smell which is not related to the normal causes of body odour.

I thought a training bra was what I wore when excercising.. shows how wrong you can be.

Could you not do a general 'Health' handout, about keeping clean and using body deodorants. Maybe mum might take the hint.

Bags I've trained my bra to take the strain when necessary and release me when I've had enough...

As for body odour - that's a very sensitive subject and so difficult to deal with when you are unrelated to the person who "smells." As a child, I wet the bed. I became accustomed to my body odour; thought it natural. When another child made fun of me, I was horrified. I couldn't understand why my own parents hadn't noticed or chose not to put me right. I shall watch this space with interest.

Is his body odour due to lack of care and washing, or is it due to hormonal development? Maybe a bit of both? Knowing might help decide which course to take. Might be a problem with glands, which would be unfortunate.
Are other Cubs aware of this? Is the Cub in question aware himself?

A quiet word with his Mum.

No, Bags, I'm afraid they actually are bras. With measurements like 28AA...

As to the body odour, I do remember there was a boy in my class at primary school who had the most terrible body odour, he must have been 9 or 10. What a dilemma for you!

Tell her to wash him and his clothes?