My wife, Amy, has been noticing how much trash & debris she sees along a lot of our major roadways and especially the interstates.  The kids picked up on her comments and asked her, “Mommy, what is litter and where’s it coming from?”

Amy decided to turn their comments into a lesson that I thought was wonderful.

“I have got an idea”, she told our children Bruton (4) and Avery (2 ¾), “Let’s go on a litter hunt and see who can get the most trash!” Each of our children got a bag.  They headed out with their Mom on a typical run in the stroller and raced her through the neighborhood.  Our kids instantly loved the challenge. After it was over, Bruton exclaimed, “People who litter should go to litter jail!”   I agree. Too bad there’s not a jail large enough to put away all these offenders.

Try this with your children. I can think of no better lesson to teach a child about keeping our streets and public spaces clean and litter free.