Learner Dad: Is it worth your while making the kids tidy up their own mess?

"I think a lot of parenting is about picking your battles, and tidying up isn’t the hill I want to die on."

Picture: iStock 

I ALWAYS u sed to wonder why people with kids had wonky back pockets in their jeans. Now I know. S ocks. Or bits of plastic. Or pencils. Or chestnuts, or whatever else ends up in your back pocket after the evening tidy-up before the kids go to bed. I usually forget about what’s in mine until a pair of jeans comes out of the wash in a worse state than it went in, because of all the shrapnel floating around in the back pocket. This is going to get worse now that we’re just a few days from the hour going back. 

Right up to late October, a lot of the kids’ mess ends up around the garden, where the smaller stuff can be crunched up by the lawnmower. (It’s a very satisfying sound.) With five months of dewy damp grass ahead of us, the mess is going to move indoors, and we’re faced with the Big Question for all parents – is it worth your while m aking the kids tidy up their own mess?