What Do I Do With Their Artwork?

ArtworkDear Friends,

I have included two questions in today’s Ask FlyLady. Both are asking for advice on what to do with artwork/school papers that are precious babies bring home. First are the two questions, followed by my response.

FlyLady

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Dear FlyLady,

Do you have any suggestions on how to organize my six-year-old daughter’s school papers and projects? I am amazed at how much paper she comes home with!

Trying to Fly in North Georgia

Dear FlyLady,

My son has taken to getting very upset over any of his artwork being thrown away….. Any suggestions on how to handle this?

FlyBaby J.

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Dear FlyBabies,

Paper, Paper everywhere and all we want to do is organize it! When are we ever going to learn that we can’t organize clutter, we can only get rid of it. I am not an unsentimental ogre but we cannot hold on to every single sheet of paper that our children bring home from school. There has to be a limit.

Here is a good way to stay on top of the barrage of paper clutter that comes through our doors from school. Establish a wall of fame for your children. Each day the children’s papers are collected in a folder. At the end of the week your child gets to pick out their favorite one of the week. That picture gets put on the wall of fame. This helps our children learn how to let go of things, too.

Then, teach them how to address a manila envelope and send the rest of them to one of their grandparents. Then, next week you put last week’s paper in a notebook and display the new one. At the end of a year, you have 52 papers instead of a huge overwhelming box.

Now, here is the secret to having this work and not become clutter for the grandparents. You have to give them permission to recycle them after they enjoy going through them.

If your child is still not wanting to share their work with anyone because they do not want to let go of it, then get out your camera. This can literally become a digital scrapbook. Make a big deal out of this. This will help them make decisions. Have them pick out their favorite five of the week. Then they get to choose their #1 pick. Take a picture of the favorite 5 with your child holding it or standing beside it. You can also put the picture on the floor and stand over it and take a close up photograph of it.

After pictures are taken, you can post them on Facebook, print them or put on digital photo album. You could even get your child a bulletin board for their room. We just have to get creative!

FlyLady

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