Recently it was trash day in our household. Thankfully we have a dumpster in an alleyway behind the house. Very helpful. As it had been a while since we’d taken things out (and we’d recently accumulated a lot of stuff after sweeping up the mess our son made) the waste bin was overflowing. Since it was nice weather outside we decided to have our son come out to the side yard to help us take out the trash. Little did we know that he’d given us a surprise that we weren’t prepared for. As I dumped the overflowing trash (some in the bag and some not) into the dumpster behind the house I saw an unexpected couple of items go along for the ride.
One of the items was, unmistakably, a blue argyle sock of mine. It was also near one of my wife’s shirts. How, I wondered, did those get in there. Quickly my question was answered: our son. The garbage is a fascinating thing for our son in the house. “What can I find today” is his motto. One day we caught him with a used tea bag in his mouth. He was quite proud of himself and visibly happy because of his lucky find. At any rate, our washer and dryer are in the kitchen and near the garbage. Our son must have, in an effort to help, put away the sock and the shirt in the waste bin. How nice of him. The story ends with me trying to figure out the least gross way to get myself into the bottom of a near-empty dumpster to retrieve our clothing. It wasn’t elegant or dignified but the items were retrieved. It appears we’ll have to have a discussion about the difference between trash and laundry with our son. Since he still seems to think the trashcan is a treasure chest I’m not sure we’ll succeed. Oh well — parenting is about the effort, right? At least partially?