Every parent has experienced it; the anguish of watching your child arrive home from school with the knees torn out of a good pair of jeans.

The usual alternatives are to cut them off and make a pair of shorts or patch them with an adhesive patch that seldom matches, is too stiff, or peels off after the first wash.

I've discovered an alternative that while not preventing holes forever, at least has managed to make my son’s pants last several months longer than they used to. Whenever we get a new pair of jeans, I take a piece of self-adhering fiber interfacing about 4" by 5" and iron it over the knee position inside his pants legs. You can use any weight, but I’ve found that a lighter weight works just as well as heavy, because after the first wash you’ll need to iron them on again to make them permanent, and the heavier ones tend to shed the top layer.

One of the nice things is, the extra reinforcement helps with general wear and tear. It may not prevent a hole when gravel or concrete meets denim during a major tumble, but after I’ve peeled away the loose fiber and ironed the rectangle into place, one final time, pants seem to last several months longer than they used to. (It certainly isn’t because my son has calmed down and changed his habits.)