Who knew garbage can such a tricky mark to hit?

Because I Said So column for The Commercial Appeal

Aug. 18, 2011

We have a garbage can in our kitchen. It’s 18 inches tall and 12 by 18 inches wide. A typical Rubbermaid in an off-white tone. It holds a plastic bag with a drawstring and is encased in such a way that it glides out from a cabinet under the counter on casters. It’s right there by the sink; you can’t miss it.

Yet my kids do. The most extraordinary feature of this incredibly ordinary can is that it repels garbage. It refuses refuse. The children in this house put as little effort as humanly possible into throwing trash away. It is all they can do to lay the Pop-Tart wrapper on the top. There is no attempt at pushing the wrapper — or the paper plate on top of it, or the paper towels on top of all of that — deeper into the can where their half-eaten snack from earlier in the day dwells.

Around the can and within that cabinet is more evidence of their laziness, a wasteland of cheese-by-the-slice wrappers, tissue, a chicken bone and homework mistakes. It’s like the climbers’ base camp in Nepal. Cleanliness is these kids’ Everest.

Trash can? Try trash can’t … (read more)