Very simple.
Every time you find his retainer, take it to the bathroom and scrub it down with a toothbrush. Then, go find him, explain to him that he forgot his retainer, and while he’s watching, lick the retainer all over.
I promise you, it’ll only take two or three renditions of this before he changes his behavior.
:eek: Uh, thanks, but I think I’ll pass on that.
I do like the hot sauce idea, though. 
Thanks for all the suggestions, guys!
:dubious:
Having some incenstuous longings you’re not telling us about here, Auto?
No no, believe it or not I’m trying to restrain myself from TMI lately, along with my other Dope problems :smack:
If you really want to solve the problem of finding his “gross” retainer around, just remind him of it when he gets up to leave the dinner table.
Yeah, that’s putting the burden on you to remember this and remind him, but you’re the older sister – get used to it. And besides, it’s you getting grossed out; it doesn’t bother him a bit. So deal with it when he leaves the table, and avoid the gross-out later.
Many of the suggestions given here seem to be more interested in ‘punishing’ or getting even with your brother, rather than just simply dealing with the problem. And likely to cause more, rather than less family conflict.
P.S. As I remember my contrariness as a teen-age boy, these suggestions of doing something ‘unsanitary’ with the retainer would not work. I’d just say “cool” and pop it back onto my teeth anyway, right in front of you (at least until I can get alone to scrub it off). Thus leaving you to go ballistic about how sick and gross that was.
It’s pretty hard to out-gross a teen-age boy, especially when he knows that’s what you are trying to do.
I’m with bonham. Is this the hill you want to die on? Is this the only, or worst, thing he does that gets on your nerves? If so, you are blessed.
Well, I must say I’m a little surprised he doesn’t have a case for it. I always thought the dentist handed one out with the retainer? I’ve never experienced a case when that wasn’t done?
Not that I’d recommend it, but I recall my brother being far more careful of his retainer the first time he spent four hours digging through pizza hut’s trash looking for his retainer.
Just sayin’…
Um, try harder!
Could I please I ask you something, t-bonham@scc.net? You seem to remember your teenage-self quite well, and I can’t interview a current teenager, as I probably would only get a shrug, a frowned you-is-crazy-look and a mumbled: “dunno” for my troubles.
In a case like this, with the retainer, or in my case of “brother drinks straight from the milkcarton when his sister has begged him not to” it seems like the teenage boy really doesn’t seem to care he makes his sisters life more difficult. Why? Does the teenage boy see it as a battle of wills he has to win? Is it manly not to “give in”? Self-centeredness?
I ask this because I really can’t fathom why, all those years ago, my brother wouldn’t humor me on this point. If anything, my brother seemed to enjoy the milkcarton routine even more after I told him I was bothered by it.
The situation wasn’t like " bro’s and sis will fight." I was three years younger then my brother, and I did my best to humor him in similar stuff. For instance, I stopped singing along with the records when he asked me to; no problem.
Is there something in teenage boy hormones that make it impossible for them to show their sisters the same courtesy?
He cares all right. He enjoys it immensely.
Teenage boys (and girls, too) are incredibly self-centered. And it isn’t so much about winning or giving in – it’s the battle itself that he is enjoying. (Also note that by making a big deal over this, you are centering everything about his actions – thus reinforcing his self-centeredness.)
Oh, absolutely; telling him how much it bothered you was just like an open invitation to do it more often!
And humoring you? – that was not high on his list of priorities.
Well, generally, courtesy is not a major goal for teenage boys. (Nor teenage girls, either.)
P.S. You say he was making your life more difficult. Not true, really.
You were making your own life difficult, by obsessing about his behavior, the cleanliness of his retainer, the hygiene of drinking from the milk carton, etc. You were letting your worries about his behavior disrupt your own life.
The only person whose emotions you can really control is yourself, and only you can make yourself miserable. Calm down. let it go, and you will feel much better. Try to think of how much your little brother resembles the monkeys in the zoo, just laugh at his antics, and have fun discussing them with your girlfriends. That would be much more enjoyable, and when he sees that it no longer bothers you, he might even reduce this behavior. He’ll probably try to find something else to bother you, but don’t let it – just keep thinking of him as a family pet that isn’t quite housebroken.
Thanks !
Well, your description sounded like my brother alright, when he was a teenager (he’s 40 now). I just wasn’t like that, so I guess I couldn’t understand him.
Still, I don’t agree with the “You don’t like it? Then YOU have a problem” attitude of such a boy, and I think that’s where the desire to punish form many people in this thread stems from. Teenage boys wouldn’t try this on a girl they fancy. So it boils down to the fact that they don’t care about their sisters feelings enough.
Hey Kythereia, there’s a thought ! Come up with some story of how girls make fun of boys who forget their retainers everywhere!
Ahem…
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14738243
Also, teens don’t like being criticised or told what to do, especially by siblings. I had loads of conflicts like this with my sister, and in turn, many things she did annoyed me. Complaining will just make him do it on purpose to prove you’re not the boss of him, so if I were you I’d just throw it in a drawer and try not to let it annoy me. Then just tell him that if it’s missing it will be in the drawer because it grosses you out. Don’t rise to any arguments about it, then once the conflict point has gone, he’ll probably start remembering about it and take it with him now he can keep the peace without losing face.
Even if not, these things happen in shared houses, but he’ll grow out of it so just wait it out and try not to let it annoy you. It’s his home too, after all.