I can’t believe my little boy has just started school!  My 5 year old has autism and after getting his Education, Health and Care Plan in place we have got him into an amazing school.  He is at a specialist resource base specifically for children with autism, it is attached to a mainstream primary.

New School & New Uniform

Wow I was pretty surprised when I realised how much I spent on all his new uniform. And then there was shoes, labels, PE kit, swimming stuff, coat and bag to pay for too!  But it is well worth the expense to see how proud he is in his uniform.  He looked so grown up and neat on his first day I nearly burst with pride.

My son is still non-verbal and so his school day is a little different.  His school use lots of visual aids and the Picture Exchange Communication System for him.  The school do lots of messy play with my son’s class and he loves this.  It’s a brilliant school and they do swimming, judo and horse riding too.

I have two boys and they are both messy kids. If we are going somewhere special they don’t get dressed until the minute before we get in the car.  If my youngest can’t access anything to make a mess he will sneeze all over himself.  I have had to accept this is who they are. We will never be that neat pristine family but I’m fine with that.  The one thing mess does mean is lots of laundry which is not my favourite task.

Thankfully the lovely BritMums and ACE sent over ACE for Colours and ACE Stain Remover Spray for me to try out as part of the #ACEforSchool Challenge.

Colourful Messy days

On my son’s first day I collected him and gave him a bag of crisps to eat on the way home.  He was ravenous and devoured them.  After he finished the crisps he realised what a mess he had made of his uniform and was devastated.  It was actually lovely to see he wanted to take care of his uniform.  This didn’t last long and everyday he comes home with a different stain to help me see what he has been doing that day.

My son loves messy play and it is a great way to interact with him.  I really enjoy reading in his home – school book about what he has been up to at school.  As they are settling in there are lots of fun activities for them including painting fireworks pictures, foam and water play, cornflour and water gloop and sticking autumn leaves to make a piece of art.

At my son’s school he sees a speech and language therapist once a week and she brings with her a therapy dog.  This is brilliant as the idea is the dog supports the children to feel less anxious, but it does mean we get dog hair added to the mix of things to clean.

Food stains!

The school is fantastic and as it is a small unit they celebrate every child’s birthday at school.  My son turned 5 in his first week and was treated to a lovely birthday party including chocolate cake.  They also do lots of cooking, just yesterday he brought home some lovely biscuits decorated with pink icing and hundreds and thousands.  At lunchtime my son can be difficult about food but they have been encouraging him to at least put food he won’t eat to touch his lips.  As you can imagine we daily get gravy, cake and other food stains to tackle.

Toddler mess!

It’s not just my boy’s school uniform that needs to be kept clean, my youngest who turns 3 next week is very skilled at finding the only puddle in existence on a sunny day and sitting in it.  We were out with friends earlier in the week and as I was chatting he just rolled around in the mud.  As you can see from the pictures below he got very muddy, this was actually the first time he had even worn the coat on the right.

Getting the clothes clean!

I was very grateful when the box arrived containing the ACE for Colours and ACE Stain Remover Spray.  We had a pile of messy clothes I could try them out on.  I didn’t even have to invent any stains my laundry pile was full of them. Treating stains is not a strong point of mine.  The instructions on the ACE Stain Remover Spray were very clear- just spray the stain, leave it to soak in then put it in the wash.  So this is what I did and it worked perfectly, no stubborn marks, they all came out first time.

I also found the ACE for Colours very easy to use, just put a capful in with the wash.  With bright white shirts and red jumpers I need a little help keeping the colours bright.  As we have so much washing to get through I only sort the colours once or twice a week. The rest of the time it all goes in together on a cold wash.  I know this isn’t how it should be done but I am not spending my life sorting laundry piles everyday.  I was really impressed with the washing that came out.

My youngest boys grey sock covered in mud came out completely clean too!

Anything that makes life easier has got to be good.

Laundry is one of those irritating things that just has to be done each day.  Using ACE for Colours and ACE Stain Remover Spray was really quick and easy and so far has had good results.  It is really important to me that I can get the stains out of my son’s uniform. I want to send him off to school looking clean and presentable. Even if it does only last five minutes.

This post is an entry for the BritMums #AceforSchool Challenge, sponsored by ACE.  Get help for all kinds of stains with the ACE Stain Helper. http://www.acecleanuk.co.uk/ or to buy head to your local Tesco’s, Morrison’s, Waitrose or Sainsbury’s.

What tips do you have for keeping your kids clothes clean?