How much of your kids school work do you keep?

rosalie-lavender

I have a lot of my childrens craft projects dotted around my house. I would far rather have those than some expensive mass produced ornaments. I didn't keep many paintings and drawings though, if I had kept them all we wouldn't have a spare inch of space by now. I just have a select few from when they were little.

Mine are teenagers so there isn't so much coming home with them now and what does come home is a far better standard. My eldest son made a beautiful bedside table for his gcse design technology. My daughter loves to sing and I keep all the programmes of any shows she is in at school likewise my son who plays the piano.

I do think you have to be a bit selective, especially when they are younger or you get overwhelmed by mountains of it all. It is a good idea with pictures and writing that you are going to keep is to put the name and date on the back for future reference.

theladsmum

I keep everything for a while, then either throw out or put in a memory box. I keep what I consider to be the "best" - funny, good, appropriate, different, etc.

Once had to explain why something was in the bin because my eldest spotted it in there. Had to say it was an accident, and retrieve it. Buried it deep in the outside bin later!!! And was more careful after that.

thriftlady_2

My mother kept everything and it drove me mad! I'm a compulsive declutterer and can't abide hanging onto piles of rubbish - especially those towers of cardboard food boxes patchily covered in mud coloured paint.

I stick stuff on the fridge for a week and then ask them if they want to keep it, if they do then they must store it otherwise it gets tossed in the recycle bin. Fortunately as they get older the output of junk loosely disguised as artwork recedes. As you can tell, I'm not sentimental:D

Why not photograph each piece of work?

zcrat41

Hi,

I don't have kids yet but when I do I'll def keep lots. My mum kept all our old school books/uni books. The deal was that when we get our own houses we take everything with us. Now Ma and Pa have a big rambling farmhouse so had room to store it all. I bought my house recently when I changed job and went through it all. I've kept one storage box full of imp stuff like my dissertation. There was also one great story written when i was 7 entitled......When I grow up I want to be a farmer......

Guess what the new job was! Yup, the 7 year old got to be a farmer.

In clearing out my Mum and Dad's I also found my Granny's exercise books. These are from 1919 and I was fascinated by them. They're a bit of social history and if I can keep them safe for my grandchildren they will know what life was like for their great great granny at school. Pretty cool I think!

Genuisscuffy

As with other comments here - my two are 18 and 19 and through the years I've put various bits and bobs in the drawer under my bed. I've tended to keep the favourite pieces of writing and drawing and now they are older have turned some into scrapebooks which I've enjoyed making for them. If they then get rid of them then thats up to them.

PollyFlinders_3

I'm pretty ruthless - I pick out the very nicest things that my two (10 and 6) produce to save. For everything else, it hangs around in the living room for 3 or 4 days and then they are told if they want to keep it, to find a home for it in their bedrooms, or else put it in the recycling. I would say 99.9% goes into the recycling - but its their decision what goes. I always keep the writing jotters.

And I have to say, looking over the things I have kept brings me so much pleasure, and as they are only the special bits and pieces I'm not overwhelmed by thousands of daubed paintings, but can really enjoy what I have kept.