To get my son to clean dog poo off his own shoes.

[smellyhouseelf]

Thought I posted this earlier but I can't find the thread, still getting used to this website. Anyway just as the title says, should children clean dog poo off their own shoes? Obviously I would do it when they're little, but what age do you think it's acceptable for them to roll up their sleeves and maybe learn to look where they're going?! Thanks.

Depends how old they are, really. I wouldn't make a five-year-old do it. I would make a ten-year-old do it.

Why are you specifically concerned about the age appropriateness of cleaning dog poo off shoes and no other cleaning chores? Does your son tread in dog shit deliberately or something?!

Depends on the age. As pp says, 5yo no, 10 yes!

He's 11 and does plenty of chores. It's not that I'm very concerned, just it's something I've always done for him but today I thought I'd let him do it himself. Then felt a bit guilty watching him do it

At 11yo d he should always be cleaning and polishing his own shoes. Regardless of what is making them dirty.

That reminds me of when DC 2 stood in some and then got into the car. We drove off and then realised. I was pregnant with DC 3 and I felt really ill.

It's totally disgusting that we have this problem but I'd certainly expect a teenager to clean their own shoes.

Yes he does usually do the normal cleaning of his shoes and actually does a pretty good job. It was just the dog poo really, knowing how much I hate it, made me feel bad for him.

I know it's revolting that we should ever have to clean dog poo when we don't own a dog, but unfortunately there is a path he goes down on the way to school which quite often is used by people who want to hide the fact that they're irresponsible dog owners.

Hopefully he will now look where he is going so that he doesnt have to do it again

I'm very tempted but he'd just flick it everywhere.