My son and his friends often hang around our house after school, and it stinks. 

Well, not that they're around. We have one of those spontaneous, casual families where kids ring our doorbell to ride bikes or play driveway basketball. I like being a freelance writer for that reason; I'm here when my kids get home from school and the mischief starts.  

What I mean is, these kids really smell.

OK, puberty. Can you say…hormones?  At 12, they are clearly growing up, bodies are changing, and that brings confusion as to how to control it.  Before, they didn't necessarily need to bathe every day, and washing meant cleaning dirt from mud pies off their hands. Now, they're clueless about odor awareness and how to take care of themselves.

That's where the adults come in, whether at home or in the "It takes a village" community; especially our schools.

The big reason for the stinkiness?  No student is required to change his/her clothes for gym–ahem–physical education, they call it.  

Our germaphobe society requires some of us to spend years in therapy just to accept human interaction on a one-to-one basis. Don't touch me! Yuk! Nearly every public facility in town is equipped with gel pumps hyping a multi-bazillion dollar sanitizing industry designed to kill those nasty germs. We go from one extreme to another. Can we reinforce a little good hygiene here–please?

Maybe it's just my kid and he's not saying (shakes head and looks down at the ground).  But, he swears practically no one ("Mom, pinky swear") changes clothes for PE. 

"Let me get this straight," I asked.  "Every other day you have gym first period for 40 minutes?  So you get dressed in the morning with your Guns N' Roses T-shirt?  Right?"

"Yeah," my son nods.

"You play football or volleyball in the same clothes?  And then go to another class?"

"Yeah, I have to go from the front of the building to my locker on the top floor of the left wing, get my books to cut across to wellness upstairs on the right wing."

"Why do you go back to your locker?"

"'Cause," he says, "they won't let us bring our books to gym."

"What? Isn't there a locker room with lockers? I'm so confused."

What is going on during PE here in Syosset? Most of the seventh graders have gym early and are stinking up classrooms for the rest of the day.

Apparently, if you play sports you have a locker assigned to you. But even those kids are not changing clothes for PE, and later, after sports' practice, on top of that, they return home off the late bus stinky and sweaty.

Back in the '70s when I went to Village School, we had to change into a one-piece darling short outfit—just darling—with maroon shorts and a maroon and white stripped zippered bodice. We even changed our sneakers.  We'd stuff it back into our rubber Village School drawstring bags and schlep home.

By South Woods Junior High, we could choose our own gym clothes—ah, freedom—and wore Champion shorts and assorted LI band T-shirts.  There weren't any showers in school till Syosset High School, which I only used during swimming class. I'll bring up the obvious point, too, as sexist as it may seem–I was a girl, and girls don't sweat as much.

Now, no one washes up, changes shirts or even shoes anymore. 

My son says many of the boys are profusely sweating and then rush to the next class.  The teachers, annoyed by only three kids in class as the bell rings, must also be disgusted by the smell. I know I am when these boys descend upon my house in the afternoon.

I called my friends. 

"Um, sorry I gotta ask, does your child smell terrible when he/she comes home from school?  And do they change clothes for PE?"

The very few children who do change clothes sneak down the hallway to the bathroom to undress.

A few parents suggested it's a lack of accountability, that the district doesn't want to deal with sexuality issues and don't have a policy in place. After all, we've already lost one teacher in the English department last year, Ian Edrich, due to inappropriate behavior. My eyes opened wider. Could this be a rationalization for bad hygiene?

I gave my son Axe deodorant spray and packed a shirt in his backpack. 

"Here, at least change your clothes this week. Let's see what happens."

The district's not walking the talk. Can't the school's policy underscore good health and personal hygiene habits that children are taught in wellness classes to complement parents' nurturing efforts, so we can all come out smelling like roses?