Well, I know this is going to make me sound like the WORST parent around, but I often think that they should have a recycling bin at the daycare beside the kids’ cubbies to toss most of the artwork into. We get TONS of it every day, and now that Sarah is big on cutting, we get a lot of strangely cut up pieces of paper that she “made”.
At first, I was really sentimental, keeping lots of stuff, but now I toss it right into the recycling in bulk (when they’re not looking of course). I scan through for the “special ones”, like handprints, or something that catches my eye, but for the most part, it makes it’s way to the blue bin. There’s just too much stuff, and I figured that if it’s accumulating at this rate and we’re only in daycare, my house will be full by the time the two of them reach university.
On that note, I have started a memory box for each of them. I bought a clear tupperware bin, and put in Sarah’s report card, her first piece of artwork, a special picture she made, a card she gave me, a family picture, her class photo, and a few other tidbits that I accumulated for that year. Then I a note that I sealed in an envelope about what I love about her, and what special things she amazed me with. I closed it and labelled it. She has two of them, and Hailey’s is still in progress.
I plan to keep them all, and then maybe pare them down at some point and give it to them as a keepsake.
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