Realizing he could make some easy money through recycling, my nine-year-old son started collecting empty cans and bottles in our garage. Eventually, with my wife and I running out of space to park our cars, it was time to visit the recycling center. It was a Sunday. It was hot.
And I didn't want to go. But for the sake of my son - and our planet - we packed up the car and off we went. The ride over was smelly enough, as the fermenting aromas of beer, soda, and various leftovers soon filled our car.

The "recycling center," it turns out, was a simple, no-frills operation: A smelly, dirty man in a smelly, dirty shed, flanked by two self-operating machines on either side. The machines - which looked like soda vending machines in reverse - would take our empties, one-by-one, and keep a running tally of our earnings - from 5-cents for a can to 10-cents for a larger bottle.

Suddenly, it hits me: I tell my son we'll have a contest - see who can rack up the most money the fastest. He'll take one machine, I'll take the other. And no matter who wins, he'll get to keep all the money.

Turning our "work" into a "game" we had some real dad-and-son fun - even if it was a recycling center - and finished up in record time. The winner? Both of us: for finishing up fast - and having fun.

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Joel Saltzman (aka J.S. Salt) created the National Best Seller, Always Kiss Me Good Night: Instructions on Raising the Perfect Parent by 147 Kids Who Know - a Parents Choice Award winner that has sold more than 150,000 copies.