Since seeing children picking up litter in a park on some TV programme a couple of months ago (I have been reliably informed it was "Big City Park"!), Iona has been desperate to pick up litter in our area "to look after animals". I was less keen, and conveniently kept forgetting to take a carrier bag and our grabber when we went out. However, yesterday I finally thought of it when planning to pop around the corner to our nearest Co-Op and offered Iona the chance to come with me and pick litter. Although not really having the motor skills to use the grabber properly, she really enjoyed it and worked quite hard at it during our 10-minute walk there. By the time we got to the Co-Op we had quite a full bag, and decided to put it in the bin outside the shop, so I didn't have to carry a rubbish bag as well as the shopping going home. Although I found it a little embarrassing to do a task normally associated with people doing "community service", I am immensely proud that my daughter cares about nature enough to do something to help it, and hope that this continues.
