Sing with me, “Clean up, pick up, put away!”
One afternoon decades ago I sat with my Grandma Ruby on her green sofa and listened to her stories of childhood. She laughed as she recalled how when it was time to wash up the dinner dishes her sister Pearl always seemed to disappear into the bathroom, and stay there long enough that the dishes were almost done when she came back. I laughed. I had similar experiences with sisters. Some things don’t change. Even at preschool there are a few children who suddenly remember they need to go the bathroom when toy clean-up time is announced. Kids have been ditching out on clean up time for a long, long time. Whether kids like it or not, cleaning up is perpetual because life is messy. Eating, playing, working, creating, and even making mistakes makes messes. Most of us at some point have wished there were elves or magic or mothers or someone to make them go away, but they just don’t. ...