If I kept ALLLLLLLLLLLLL the work my 4 daughters bring home, i'd be buried in it! My girls get pretty upset when I throw something away, but I just dont have any more room to keep storing stuff nor do I like clutter, so how should I go about this with them so that they don't feel like I don't appreciate the hard work they've put into it? Thank you!!! Gobble gobble!!
Very simple. Recycle it when she's not around. Believe me unless there is something that you know they'll never forget they won't remember.
I do this with the kids all the time. They leave the room and I go throw the piles and recycle asap.....they'll never know.
Don't throw it away when they are looking. They will forget about it in a few days, and then you can throw it away. But keep the special things.
I put it all (except maybe 2 a week that end up on our fridge) in our recycle bin....under other stuff...when they're not looking...or I'd be crucified!! :)
i have a paper bag in the top of my daughter closet that I put the "good" ones in , shes in k, and the rest I throw out when shes not around. Shes never asked to see one, but she'd be upset if she knew. Why not give them each a paper bag or box and tell them they can fill one per year, and keep it at the top of their closet...so they can choose which ones theys like to keep
Our daughter has always been a prolific artist.. It would have been impossible to save it all.
She is actually a Studio Art Major in College now(Sculpture, LARGE Sculptures).
So of course I would have her edit her work at the end of each school year.. Some of them we gave to relatives in frames, some of them I made copies of and turned them into her stationary. And some I scanned or Digitally photographed..
This seemed to help to be able to" Lose" some of that work. I went through when she was not home and tossed some myself. I also have always warned her, When she moves into her apt.. all of this will be going with her..
We recycle the papers... this makes her feel good about helping the environment and less that Mommy doesn't want to keep them. If it's something she argues with me about... I'll wait a day or two then put it under a stack of papers in the recycle bin.
Keep a file or folder or box or whatever is good for you and recycle or throw the rest away when they're sleeping.
We made a box that my daughter decorated just for these things. She also decorated a box for her cherished items.
I know you just can't keep it all. But sometimes I think now I wish I would've kept more. Once the time of their little-ness is gone it's gone.
I scan or take pictures of everything and then put them in a scrapbook I do online and then print it at the end of the year, so they get to keep everything, just not the original. I do this with ALL of their projects, birthday cards, Disneyland tickets, etc. I can make things smaller or bigger and then I can recycle everything.
I have 4 kids and we homeschool, so I also put in examples of their homework in their books. They LOVE going through their books and I love that everything is organized and all in one place.
Every few weeks I have my son go through his artwork with me, and we decide which 10 items he can keep. Once his 10 are chosen, we recycle or toss the rest together, as I want him to understand that he has to prioritize and can't keep everything. Got some borderline hoarders in my family.
I keep the really good stuff, and wait until they're asleep to throw everything else away! They have never noticed.
I scan in just about everything and then keep just a few a year. We then donate the pictures to a nearby nursing home. The patients LOVE the artwork and the kids get to make lots of others happy.
My oldest is almost 13 and youngest is 6 - this is what I've been doing successfully for years now. When they bring home something they're proud of, I post it proudly on the wall, fridge, wherever, for all to appreciate. If it's really special, we take a picture of the child holding it or scan it for extra detail. Once it's been up for several months, I'll exchange it out for a fresh piece of art and throw the old piece away. Of course I do this while they're not home and make sure the trash makes it outside before they come home. I've never had a problem with this method and remember, as they get older, the projects they bring home are few and far between.
Clean things out when your daughters aren't home. Keep some special things and examples of their work from each year. If I tried to clean out my older daughter's stuff with her helping me, nothing would ever be thrown away! Make sure things thrown away aren't thrown away where they can see. Otherwise it will come right back out of the trash.
I bought a laminator at Sams and save the best. I have to wait until she is gone and throw it in a bag in the dumpster. If she sees it, even practice work, she is upset because her teacher said they had to keep it ALL so they could review their year and growth. Ridiculous.
I kept so much from preschool years and Kindergarten and am glad I did. They don't do nearly as much cute art work and projects after first grade. I have a shirt box for every year and I put the best in there. My girls love to look through them. I figure they can pair them down when they are older if they want to. My parents kept nothing from my childhood and that makes me very sad. Digital pictures are better than nothing but there is something about seeing and feeling the actual piece of paper that they spent time on. They are only little once.
Two words: Digital Photo. Take pics of everything, store everything on a cd or other handy compact device, then maybe once a year make a book of her favorites through Kodak Gallery or Snapfish... or let her help you choose favorites to make into greeting cards, or a calendar or something else to use as a holiday gift for family. Another thing I've done is store them in plastic bins by year... when you have 2 or 3 years worth, tell them, the oldest year is going, let them pick out 2 or 3 favorite pieces toss the rest. They'll be less attached to it if they completely forgot about it.
Dont tell them. Bury it in the trash after bed.
I used to keep everything, but it is too much. So I went through everything with my son when he was about 10. We only kept things that showed his personality (book reports, essays, especially good artwork). Much better.
I haven't done this yet because my daughter is too young to understand we are throwing her work away, but at 2 most of her work is gluing pieces of paper to another piece of paper. I 've heard a lot of parents take pictures of the school work or scan it into their computers and save it to a file and throw away the originals. Maybe that will work with your daughters. I do save anything that has her hand or foot print on to remember how small they were.
I tend to bury it in the bottom of the outside trash when they aren't home or are sleeping. LOL
Another idea, is to make a digital memory of it for them: Take a picture and load them onto a disc. Then you/she can still look at it if she wants to later, but you don't have to store the physical papers.
Just pitch things when they are not around to see it. I also have to do the same thing with toys from Happy Meals - and make sure there's garbage on top of it so they don't spot it! You can always take digital pics of everything, choose to keep a few choice pieces, and save them in a special folder.
I photograph (or scan) it, especially art projects. Sometimes, I'll do my kid plus the item, and sometimes just the schoolwork. Then I can throw it away and we feel as if we still "have" it. :)
