About a month and a half ago, I volunteered myself and my son to spend a morning cleaning up Ft Myers Beach for the Ocean Commotion Event. My Oceanography professor was offering 25 extra credit points to anyone who came out that Saturday morning to pick up trash. We got up early and drove around Bonita Beach road made it to the meeting point. Each team received one rubber glove for each person, trash bags and a tally card. We were assigned an area of the beach and its surrounding area. Since I had my son, another professor had her toddler; we took an area close to the event base, to cut down on the walking. It was a bit of a shock to our team, when one of the grade school girls who was on our team read the items we were supposed to mark on the tally sheet: condoms, hypodermic needles, beverage straws and cigarette butts.

After counting a hundred cigarette butts we picked up in a small area along the road, we agreed to stop tallying them. Some adults that were smokers or had quit smoking decided that God was getting back at them for the thousands of butts they had tossed out their windows. Everyone vowed to never toss anything out any window again. When our time was up, we had collected: one hypodermic needle, thousands of cigarette butts, a dead snake, and a dead raccoon, tons of straws, cans, newspapers, discarded food containers and wads of chewing gum.

On the way back to the start sight, people driving by were beeping at us wearing our Ocean Commotion tee shirts, one rubber glove and carrying trash bags. “Good Job!” some yelled. Others just waved. I was impressed by even the effort made by toddlers to pick up the trash.

The school my son attends have done wonders with their students, teaching them to recycle, clean up and save power. If a preschooler can pick up trash, tidy up and remember to shut off a light when leaving a room, we all can. My son is aware that trash kills sea turtles, discarded chewing gum left on blacktop will ruin your Spiderman shoes and that people are lazy. One evening we were going to Target, and my little boy picked up every bit of garbage that littered the parking lot. I felt like slapping the guy who flicked a cigarette into the bushes and the woman who crumpled her receipt and tossed it to the ground. Alex yelled, “Hey, Lady, you dropped your paper.” She ignored him, got into her Cadillac Escalade and drove off. Alex put his little hand up in the air and said” That lady is a litterbug and she is killing baby animals!” He held my hand, walked over to the balled up receipt, picked it up and tossed it into the trash.

Later, I thought that it is a shame that a 4 year old has to pick up after adults that should know better. I wonder how all the drivers who tossed trash out their windows in Ft Myers Beach would feel if they had to send their grandkids or children to pick up the cigarettes, food wrappers and unmentionable items that were tossed there.

I make it a point to bring an extra plastic bag with us when we get to spend time on the many beautiful beaches in our area. We set up our towels, umbrella and beach chairs. I always bring a cooler of drinks and snacks. (Alex has learned not to feed the seagulls after they stole his bag of Cheetos.) Often we walk down the beach, and pick up any garbage we see. During our walks we have found all kinds of stuff: soda cans, plastic water bottles, plastic grocery bags, coolers, flip flops, rope, dead fish, broken toys, cigarette butts, and even a bikini top. Whatever we find, we add it to our trash, check the area around our “camp” and pick up whatever discarded stuff we find even though we didn’t “do it”. I suppose if everyone picked up their garbage, and one other item, our beaches would be much cleaner.

So the next time you are smoking a stogie or cigarette and start to toss it out of your window, think about all the school children picking up your spit covered butt. When you are at the beach enjoying a morning coffee and don’t know what to do with the stirrer or the lid, picture the Pacific Garbage Patches which are ”landfills” in the ocean that are miles long full of swirling plastic and trash. Remember those tiny animals that are trapped and eventually die as a result of the plastic rings from your six pack of Coke or beer. Be a responsible human being and toss the garbage in the trash can, not in our water supply.

The earth belongs to all of us, and it is important that we take care of it and show it the respect it deserves. It is the legacy all of us will leave to our children and future generations, so let’s keep it clean and treat it with the respect it deserves.

My four year old son attends preschool. I spend most of his free time with him. I really don’t curse, spit, or talk about bathroom functions. I find myself bewildered daily when I pick him up from school. He has learned new words and even how to spell them. His teachers tell me he can read and is above the standards for his age group. I am very proud of my kind, thoughtful and polite son.

A few weeks ago, I signed him out from his class, loaded him and his artwork into the car and headed toward home. He told me that he read a story in class about a dog. “D O G spells dog, Mommy! Did you know that?” He said beaming, “and when you toot that is F A R T!” I was taken aback. I scanned my brain, flipping through all the toddler and parenting books and magazines I have read. I remembered not to freak out about the F A R T word.

We got home and he kept saying “F A R T that spells fart!” I kept my cool and tried not to react. I explained that the word is not a nice one and we don’t say that. I assumed he had learned it from one of the older boys in his class with older siblings. I told him it was great that he learned to spell dog. Alex went to his room to play with his Legos. I started to make dinner for us. I heard him repeating how to spell fart. He even told his Lego figures that it is the noise your butt makes when you have to poop. After an hour of listening to his explanation, spelling and sound effects, I decided to talk to him about it. He giggled as I told him again that it isn’t a nice word to use especially at school or the dinner table. I asked him who taught him that word and to my surprise, it wasn’t one of the boys, but a cute little girl who was known as the class fashionista. I was shocked.

Last week, I picked Alex up again. He ran to the car and told me to hurry up and get him in the car. I clipped him in the car seat and asked why he was in such a hurry. “Mom,” he said seriously, “we have to hurry up and get to Mc Donald’s, they have the Star Wars skateboards and Keith and John said today they will get the General Grievous one and it’s very rare so we have to hurry and get there before they are all gone.” I walked around the car and climbed in. I don’t mind going out to eat, so I don’t have to cook. I would prefer going to an establishment that didn’t boast a drive up window. We watch very little television so my son isn’t aware of the latest promotional toys in the Happy Meals at Mc Donald’s or the Kids meals at Burger King. All of this information and mania about the toys comes from his classmates at school.

My son learned many things at school, his colors, ABC’s, how to read, draw, sing songs, dancing, the pledge of Allegiance and even how to spit. I don’t spit, my family doesn’t spit and I don’t take him to any places that spitting would be going on. After Alex imitated a scene from When Harry Met Sally, when he tried to spit out the closed car window, I knew it was time for a talk. I told Alex that it was acceptable to spit toothpaste in the sink and occasionally into the toilet when coughing up phlegm. There is no other place that he should be spitting. He explained to me that some of the boys told him that pirates chew stuff and spit all the time. I told him that we are not pirates, we don’t chew up plants or tobacco and we will not be spitting.

On Thursday, Alex was happy to leave school, and ran to the car. “How was your day?” I asked. “I had a wonderful and magical day.” He said. I put him in his seat and walked around and put the key in the ignition. “Hey, Mom, “Alex said, “we need to go home, get on the laptop and go to Old Navy Dot Com, print a coupon, and hurry to the mall. They have Darth Vader T shirts there and I need to have one so I can be in the Star Wars club with John, Chris and Mark. You get a shirt for 16 hundred ninety nine if you have a coupon. Get going Mom, they close at 9 o’clock!”

As an adult, most of us hear things, discuss current events or talk about the last episode of Grey’s Anatomy at the water cooler at work or the cafeteria, with our peers. I realized that it starts early, surprisingly at the preschool level. I wonder if these preschoolers hang around the climbing wall or slides discussing what they had seen on television, heard at home, or from others. These kids are aware of more than we give them credit for, they know where things are, how to save money, websites to go to and how to be accepted by the peer groups. I can only hope that the values and morals I tried to instill in my child will keep him on the right path. I thought I had a few more years before I had to worry about clichés, peer pressure and fitting in.

Collier County Public Library sponsored events are really in swing and this week is a great example. Book discussions, investment information, children's story times – there really is a ton of interesting, education events planned.

I admit it, I really dislike Halloween. It's not a popular opinion and I've been keeping it to myself for a long time but I'm ready to go public. I simply don't understand the Halloween hoopla.

It is two weekends before Halloween. My four year old son is very aware of the holidays, thanks to his VPK program and preschool. Last month I asked him what he would like to be for Halloween. “A skeleton or a pirate!” he told me over and over. We are new to Florida and the Halloween customs are different than what we are used to in Chicago. Those adorable plush, furry costumes were perfect for babies and toddlers up north. Without fail, it seemed, in the suburban Chicago the first snow flurry in or a severe thunderstorm was predicted for Halloween and trick or treat. Usually, kids were forced to wear raincoats, parkas, boots and even mittens while trick or treating. I learned to adapt after our first Halloween in southwest Florida. Last year, my son Alex, was a pirate. During trick or treat at Coconut Point, it was so hot outside that the “scars” and “tattoo” makeup melted and ran all over his face. He resembled one of those teenage girls with too much mascara who spent the night crying.