Post New Year’s Confetti
It’s been a few days past New Year’s Day and I wanted to get my 6 year old daughter E out of the house. My wife came along and I put our baby boy L in the stroller. Then Chewy boy came along for the walk and off we went.
My wife took Chewy on a different path and I was with E and L. We ended up at my daughter’s school and tried to play at the playground. She couldn’t help but notice all of the plastic confetti that was strewn about all over the place. It was metallic and shiny, which was a stark contrast to the rest of the playground. And it was literally everywhere.
I commented on how some kids who probably came here and wanted to have some fun, and unfortunately, they didn’t have the decency to clean up after themselves. I also told my daughter that her or her brothers (when they grow up) were not allowed to do things like that. If you make a mess, you have to clean it up. Especially if it is at an elementary school full of kids.
E processed this as we walked across the blacktop towards the playground and she stopped. She wanted to pick up all of the confetti. I had a paper bag in the stroller and instead of playing on the playground, we spend 45 minutes in the rain and cold picking up confetti. It was freezing, but my daughter was determined to clean up the playground for her school and friends before school officially started for the new year next week. Even though I was with the baby, L was bundled up with rain guard on his stroller while being surprisingly quiet the whole time. I think it was the rain hitting the rain guard that made the transparent cover look amazing to him. He was mesmerized as me and E were freezing and wet while cleaning everything up.
After 45 minutes, we cleaned up 80% of the playground. It really started to pour at that point and we had to call it quits. At least the blacktop area and most of the concrete play areas were clean. My daughter inspired me to be a helper that day because of her cleaning spirit and her helpful can-do attitude. It was a great way to spend 45 minutes at the school after we ended up warming up and she was so proud of herself for cleaning up. I was proud of her too.
