PICK-UP Partners Mini-Tool for RESPONSIBILITY

PICK-UP Partners: Most parents spend anywhere from 15 minutes to 45 minutes a day picking up and putting away junk that kids leave out: clothes, shoes, backpacks, wet towels, toys, dishes, milk cartons, video game equipment, toothbrushes, you name it. At 30 minutes a day, that adds up to 182 hours a year, or 22 eight-hour days of work. Wow! That’s like a month of vacation!!
 
PICK-UP PARTNERS can get you out of that habit quickly and give the responsibility back to the children — where it belongs. Kids should be responsible for picking up their own things and cleaning up their own messes. Here is how it works: Your children take turns each week being the family Pick-Up Partner, using a basket or a box to pick up what’s left out at the end of the day. Everyone’s stuff. 
 
Talk to them about how being grown-up means taking on more responsibility and along with that comes privileges. You can offer privileges for this new responsibility and use the cards included to make sure everyone understands the deal. The PICK-UP partner earns a point for every item he/she picks up and the person who leaves items out loses a point for every item. What often happens is that the kids realize how much work it is, and they start nagging each other to pick up their own things. What an unexpected bonus that is!