July 16, 2008
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Too Much Artwork
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Okay, I'm outing myself again as a mean, uncaring mom. Here I talk about how I keep very little of Vivien's artwork. Maybe it's a reaction to my recent move and seeing how much of my own junk I have been carting from home, to college apartment, to countless apartments, and finally a house. Well, I did chuck a bunch out in this last move, but I know not NEAR enough.
Amen sistah!!! My philosophy is that when the piece TRULY reflects her actual creative expression (as opposed to sticking a pre-cut circle on a dab of glue that someone else put on a brown lunch bag to make a hand-puppet clown), then I keep it (but even there, like you, only if it's somehow unique). I also have kept a few things from school that were just darned cute — or included a picture of her and I thought it'd be a cute xmas tree ornament. I am a vicious, vicious preschool artwork chucker though. . . but not enough of a vicious chucker generally. Maybe if I chucked more, generally, I'd have the space to feel i could keep more prefab artwork… but somehow I doubt it!
Oh my God! I My house is literally taken over by the masterpieces of my 8 year old. Thank got it all slowed down a bit in 2nd grade. I can't manage to throw ANYTHING away.
I need a twelve step program. I hear it works if you work it.
Funny ladies!! Like the artwork chucker line. It's funny, she hasn't been coming home with much artwork yet. Wonder if she is chucking it too.
I wish I could throw it away but I missed the oppurtunity. Dennis now has an attachment to every single scribble, paint line and glue dot. If he did it then it MUST be on the fridge. MUST. It looks like I paper mached(how do you spell that??) the fridge…
Don't feel guilty!!! Unless you are going to open a toddler gallery where you need all of them on display 24/7, instead keep the unique pieces (good call Lisa) and if you really want others snap a digital pic of it! File the new (much more compact version of it) later!
Right with you on this one. I did a mini-series last year on chucking tot art on my blog for Cookie mag:
In a rare moment of genius I also invented the Crabmommy Tot Art Curtain, a featured Ikeahack for those into that weird Ikea subculty-culty…Seriously, now I have a good place for all the art you can't toss when they start SEEING YOU DO IT.
http://www.cookiemag.com/magazine/blogs/crabmommy/2007/10/tot-art-3-you-g.html
hey crabmommy, the art looks pretty good.
Kelsey, good point, about chucking before they become attached. Now, I would save anything my 14 year old stepson brings home, but he could care less. So, it evens out at some point.
I am inundated with artwork, too, and my sister gave me a suggestion I thought I'd pass along. (She has 5 artsy-crafty girls.) She saved everything they did for a week, and at the end of the week they each got to pick one thing to keep. Granted that's a possible 52 pieces of art a year per kid but it seems reasonable.
I only occasionally do this, however. Unless it's really unusual, most of the time I hide the latest masterpieces deep down in the trash. They never miss it.
I do feel bad about this. Sometimes.
here is the truth from a preschool teacher. Most centers require the teachers to send home at least one themed project everyday with the kids. so to keep our low paying slightly stressful very fun jobs we strech our minds and even our own wallets (the centers never have enough materials) to get these master peices out.
once they are home that is the end of the projects in our mind. but please do make a special box and keep the best of the work for when you are grandmothers and want to look back. do like we do and stick it on the fridge for a week and then it magicly disapears. ( they also make pictures for their teachers everyday)
like was mentioned above after a week they really do not miss anything.
I keep the stuff I love from each and it is enough