The Best Parenting Rule Ever: Pick it Up or It’s Trash

Countless parents, possibly even all of them, can relate to the children leaving their belongings out of place. Well, I propose we all enforce a new rule. I call this rule “Pick It Up Or It’s Trash”. I don’t care what the item is, if your child doesn’t pick up something he or she uses, into the trash it goes.

Don’t like your child spending hours playing that video game system? Just wait it out. It will eventually get left on the floor. When it does, you will be required to put it into the trash, per the new “Pick It Up Or It’s Trash” house rule. The house rules can’t be broken, right?

Tired of telling your kids to stop ruining their dolls in the bathtub? Just wait until they leave them (and a few other soaked non-bathtub toys) on the bathroom floor. Scoop them all up and throw them right in the trash. After all, they were on the floor.

Tired of tripping over toys in the middle of the night? The next time you injure your toe on a toy while going to the bathroom or to check on the sleeping kids, toss it into the trash – not at the wall. Even in the middle of the night in your sleepy stupor, you must adhere to the house rules.

Yes, the “Pick It Up Or It’s Trash” rule will teach your child real fast to keep things neat and tidy. In fact, it’s practically the quickest way to weed out the junk in your house. Forget a garage sale. Just keep enforcing your new rule. The kids will give you an excuse to use it.

But wait, there’s more! Perhaps the best benefit to using the “Pick It Up Or It’s Trash” rule is the fact that one day you just might have absolutely nothing left to clean up after. No dishes to clean, no toys to trip over, no bed to make, no pile of laundry – nothing! How great would that be?

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Obviously, this is meant as a joke and is not intended for actual use. However, for some genuine parenting tips and advice, feel free to click on the author’s name or avatar.