...to not pick up this litter??

[Ifyourawizardwhydouwearglasses]

DS (2) has been taught about how it's wrong to drop litter. He is now going through a stage of picking up all the litter that we see and presenting it to me saying 'no!' and 'bin!'

Trouble is, where we live (quite rural) there aren't many bins and I really don't want to carry some stranger's fag ends and half eaten butties around. So I tell him to leave it alone. Which he looks very confused about.

What would you do!??

Firstly, your DS sounds very sweet :) I would try to explain that the litter is dirty because it's been on the floor and dogs may have wee'd on it etc etc, and that's why he shouldn't be picking it all up. You can still say something like 'naughty person, they should have put it in the bin shouldnt' they?!' without having to pick it up. Hopefully then it won't give mixed messages. I suppose you could take some gloves and a carrier bag if he wants to pick it up another time :)

I'd go for taking a carrier bag and letting him pick up the litter. He sounds lovely, and it seems a shame not to foster his instinct for community spirit!

FWIW I sometimes pick up other people's litter, and I think we'd live in a nicer world if more people were willing to do little things to help out, instead of constantly demanding, 'why should I?'

Cigarette butts have been in people's mouths, and who knows what bacteria is on the other garbage. You don't want DS touching those, especially since toddlers often put their hands in their mouths or rub their eyes with them.

I'd just tell him to take care of his own litter for now. Tell him it's wrong to litter, and that there are people that will come by and pick the litter up later to clean it up.

NZ is full of people picking up each other's litter. So much so that there is very little to go around. Lovely, community-minded stuff. Get DS some gloves and a carrier bag or just say 'ewwww dirty' and don't let him like I do IRL.

I vote for the taking a bag with you option too. Or even, perhaps, taking him on a purposeful litter-pick walk - gloves, bags, you could even get a litter picker - at the local park/beach etc. It might even get it out of his system for a while on normal walks. Using gloves might also reinforce the message for him that there are appropriate/inappropriate ways to handle litter.

I do a litter pick a few times a year at the beach. It's amazing how much 1 person can remove in an hour.

Cigarette butts have been in people's mouths, and who knows what bacteria is on the other garbage. You don't want DS touching those, especially since toddlers often put their hands in their mouths or rub their eyes with them.

True, but there's also evidence that exposure to dirt can be beneficial, e.g. in preventing asthma and other allergies (www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140606091157.htm).

In any case, allowing a child to pick up litter could be used as an opportunity to teach him about good hygiene: e.g. wear gloves, don't touch your mouth until you've washed your hands, wash hands before eating, etc.

My ds tried to do the same thing....I tell him we never touch things other people have dropped in case they are dangerous. Before anyone says I am an ultra paranoid helicopter parent, I have seen hypodermic needles in the street several times in Inner London...disgusting.

formerbabe I am a self-confessed ultra paranoid helicopter parent :D I manage to convince myself I'm doing the wrong thing whatever choice I make.

E.g. I totally sympathise with your approach of telling DS that we don't touch what others have dropped in case it's dangerous, and I take a similar approach. But then I worry that perhaps I'm signalling implicitly that stuff that doesn't fall into that category is safe, which is obviously not the case. Oh, what to do, what to do ...

Well. My DS picks up other people's empty bottles (that I imagine they have pissed in because my brain is broken) and takes a fucking swig!!!!!!!

Knocks me ill

Get him a litter picker grabber thingy

Awwwww!
Bless him! Cute little womble
< no advice here>

DS2 used to do that because at 3 his life's dearest ambition was to be a bin man. We got him a nice pair of cheap kitchen tongs and let him carry on but tried to limit him to paper/plastic rather than 'organic' trash. He outgrew it by the time he was 4. Because he then decided he'd rather be Batman.

Walking home from nursery school a few years ago some of the children picked up some litter. I said "Well, you'll have to carry it to the nearest bin now", while the other mother's were saying "Dirty! Drop it"!

I felt a bit of an idiot but stuck to my guns.

There was a story a while ago about a man who picked a cigarette end off the bottom of his shoe and dropped it and got fined for littering.

We pick up litter. It's my little community service thing to do.
I have even cleaned up condoms in NY in Central Park (wearing disposable gloves). I had to explain what they were and why he mustn't touch them to my six year old son.

He outgrew it by the time he was 4. Because he then decided he'd rather be Batman.

I think this is the best thing I've ever read on MN.

Always be Batman.

"Always be Batman"

Amen, Bulbasaur, amen.

I'd get a roll of dog poop bags - small and easy to put into a pocket, so you can always have them to hand. Pop over hand, pick up rubbish and invert. Job done!
Love it that so many people here are community minded.

I wouldn't discourage - get the tongs and plastic bag. Love the idea of changing to Batman!

I pick up litter around my house but I would not buy disposable gloves or wear old gloves of my own. Why should I spend money on dirty habits of others? What I use as a 'glove' is one of those plastic bags that post comes in sometimes or a plastic bag that encloses something that I've bought on Amazon. 'Glove' in my right hand, Nearly-past-it carrier bag in the other.

If only smokers would realise that their cigarette ends are litter and, therefore, antisocial.

My DC do the same thing! I just have to say "no we don't touch the litter because it's dirty but those people are very naughty for dropping it aren't they?" sometimes I let them pick it up if it's something relatively clean like a carrier bag but never fag butts or drink cans.

As a side note I've definitely noticed litter isn't as prevalent anymore. When I was young litter was a massive thing, it seemed to be everywhere and most people thought it was acceptable and maybe even slightly cool? to do. Now I think with the signs everywhere, the fact every bit of packaging says put me in the bin on it etc littering has become stigmatised. I was walking behind two young boys last week and one of them dropped some litter, the other boy he was with sternly told him to pick it up. I don't see many people doing it anymore, smoking is also disappearing which helps the litter cause too.