Do you keep every piece of artwork from your kids, and the never do anything with it?
Here's what to do instead...take a picture of it and throw away the original. Now before you release that audible gasp, just hear me out...
I used to keep it all! But, why? I not sure why I kept it except I just felt like I should. It dawned on me one day when my youngest ( and I only have 2 kids) was in Kindergarten that if I kept all the artwork just throughout elementary school I would need a small room just to store it all in. Why keep it if it's just going to sit in a room and collect dust? My kids aren't going to want it when they are older. I know this because they don't want it now, and I didn't want my old artwork when I got older either. My kids are now ending 5th grade and 3rd grade, and neither of them has ever asked about their old artwork.
Something I do have however, is an elementary school scrapbook that my mom made me when I finished 5th grade. I love that book and I still have it at age 40. So I decided a long time ago that I was going to make a photo/memory book for each of my kids when they left elementary school. In that book I will include all that artwork that I took photos of. This way we still have the memory of the art work nicely inside a book. A book takes up so much less space. And if you're not into having a physical book you can just keep it in your digital or online photo album. I'll cover the photo book process and photo organization in a future post because that alone could be an entire blog post.
Another thought for anyone whose kids may be super attached to their artwork and likes to display it...
Your kids will not be attached to the same piece forever so go ahead and display a couple favorites on their bedroom wall...temporarily. Limit yourself to 2 or 3 pieces, and swap them out as new art comes home. When a piece comes off the wall, it goes in the trash (I know that sounds harsh, but it's not). This way the child and you can enjoy it for some time and then move on to the next piece. By the time the next piece comes in, the kids are likely to be done enjoying what was on the wall and will be ok with replacing it.
