Art attack

Dear first-born child,

As much as it pains me to recycle any of your works of art, I'm afraid that we're going to have to sort something out.

It's time you were let in on the little secret that Blue Box and I have been keeping for a while now. Occasionally, when I'm trying to clean up the kitchen, or when I'm in one of my periods of Real Simple magazine-inspired organizational zeal, I force myself to part with some of your earlier works.

First, I pause for a moment over the brown construction-paper crown you made at school on Groundhog Day, or that tin-foil and feather-covered dreamcatcher thingy you made in preschool. I shed a few tears for more innocent times, as I reflect on your depictions of knights, castles, dragons and no-smoking signs.

Then I stuff them in the recycling bin under the kitchen and steal them away to the garage after you're in bed.

Of course I set aside your hand-made book, "The Questing Beast," that we made together when you were four, along with all drafts of my mother's day cards. And your recent depictions of the solar system have been lovingly added to the art wall.

And while I agree with you that "they're pretty much all keepers," I'm afraid that with the price of real estate in Toronto, the craft drawer alone is going to cost me about $100,000 with interest, amortized over the 25 (or 30) years it takes to pay off this place.

Meanwhile, I've done a really great job of sorting all of your markers, crayons, gluesticks, pipe cleaners - even those dreaded novelty scissors that bark like a dog with each snip - into neat little baskets. If you could stick with the system - and keep an eye on your brother with the playdough - that would be really great.

Love,

Mom

P.S. Looking for something arty to do with the kids? Try these spring-inspired crafts.

Comments

[Catharine]

ha! so true!!

[Yuki]

I can relate! I've been recycling too. I don't remember making such vast quantities of art when I was in school...or maybe my parents were more heartless about tossing it....

[Mary Lynn]

Too funny! I do the same. I save a few of my favorites and the rest get tossed into the recycling bin.

[Sotaro Shibahara]

My parents kept a lot of my (and my sister's) early works of art (haha) and to this day I have them with me (34 now). I appreciate that they preserved them for me, because to be honest, I recall very little of my childhood and having such items refreshes my memories of my very distant youth.

May I suggest that rather than just tossing the artwork, that parents might consider getting a scanner and scanning the works into the computer for posterity's sake? Or with three dimensional objects, a quick snapshot on a digital camera would be a nice way to remind your kids of their youth.

My parents also have old cassette recordings of my sister and I just talking or singing, and it's nice to hear those recordings because I for one hardly recall those times except for those audio recordings and photos from back then. In this day of cheap digital cameras with even HD-quality video recording, why not record your kids performing their favourite activities, or just record every day family life, not just special occasions. Most people remember special occasions anyway, but over the years the every day living memories tend to blend together. I'm sure the entire family will be able to enjoy such family moments in later years.