How to deal with ‘essence of boy’

  • By Beth J. Harpaz Associated Press
  • Friday, April 3, 2009 9:17pm
  • Life

If you have a son over age 10, you may be familiar with a fragrance I refer to as “Eau de Boy.”

Eau de Boy comes in two unforgettable scents: Locker Room and Axe.

If you live with the Locker Room variety, then you have one of those boys who won’t shower and whose socks and T-shirts must be decontaminated by a HazMat team.

But if it’s the smell of Axe deodorant you’re used to, then you’ve got a kid who creates giant vapor clouds every time he sprays himself, causing you to run around opening windows, hoping it dissipates before the entire family passes out.

But maybe you envy parents whose kids use too much deodorant, because yours won’t use any.

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Reminding a teenager that “he is no longer a child and should use deodorant daily, as well as bathe daily, to be better accepted by his peers, usually makes the case,” said Dr. Charles Wibbelsman, member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ committee on adolescence.

Susan Bartell, a psychologist on Long Island in New York, said peer pressure can improve teen hygiene. “They’ll get teased for bad breath, for having greasy hair, and that will motivate them.”

Young teens uninterested in the opposite sex may be harder to motivate. But “often all it takes is a little bit of having a girl flirting with him to get a boy to care,” she said.

Beth Harpaz is the author of “13 Is the New 18.”

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