Something I have always heard other parents complain is how kids leave things behind and they don’t pick up after themselves.
When our daughter started to walk and move on her own around the house it added to our daily house chores.
As any other toddler, she tends to pick things up and then leave them at another spot when she finds a new interest in another object.
Thankfully Lucy (my other half) started to teach our daughter how to clean up after herself.
The Clean Up Song
Lucy made it fun for our daughter to pick things up by singing and teaching our daughter the clean up song. Lucy has an advantage of having worked as a teacher with kids and also went to school for that. When you add to the creativity she has, I can see how something I would have tried teaching our daughter, Lucy makes it 3 times as fun.
This past Saturday was Global Coastal Clean Up Day. Since we now live near the beach we saw many volunteers arrive at the beach ready to clean up what others have left behind.
The volunteers started from the San Juan Water and Beach Club hotel where many beach visitors including the guests of the hotel forget to clean up after themselves.
Leading by Example
We joined the group of volunteers by grabbing some gloves and trash bags. With our daughter in toe, Lucy and I picked up trash while our daughter watched us and entertained herself.
Teaching others including our children to do the right thing is something critical that we all forget every once in a while. What a better way to roll up your sleeves and do some community; help clean up the place we all love to walk in the morning and enjoy the sun for the rest of the day.
Big thanks to all the volunteers and the Scuba Dogs Society who took the time to clean the coast on a Saturday morning when they could have chosen to do something else.
This opportunity to join volunteers this past Saturday made me realize that I need to do more of this. This will eventually help my daughter and others understand the importance of why need to clean up after ourselves and how we can change the world by changing ourselves first.
So as my daughter now sings
“Clean Up Clean Up Everybody everywhere,
Clean Up Clean Up Everybody doYour Share”
Note: If there are any more opportunities for the Papaheroes to get involved in community work feel free to contact us and we can take a look at how we can support your cause.
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