Do you keep all the things your child has given to you?

Question

My son is 9 months and while he's in daycare, they do a lot of 'art' projects.

So far, he's made me flowers (they traced his hands on construction paper and cut them out and wrapped them around straws so it looks like flowers), finger painted me pictures, made me a card for Mother's Day, etc.

Of course I'm going to keep every last one of them and I date them as well... And, right now, I keep them displayed on my desk/wall at work... But when I run out of room, what should I do with them? Put them in a keepsake box or something?

Answer 1

replace the old ones with the new ones and save the old ones in a nice box :) I save all the pictures my kids make...today my 2yr old daughter got hold of a pen and paper and started makes all these circles and told me..."dis mama's house" and "dis elmo's house" lol I love it!

Answer 2

That's so sweet! Landon is home with me all day, and I'm not real crafty, so we haven't done any art projects. That kind of makes me sad that I don't have anything like that. I think it's great you keep all of it and it will be something for you to look at when he's all grown up.

Answer 3

Well this depends on your personality, most of all - for me, I'm not a 'keeper.'  I keep cards my husband has given me, and the 'first' of everything from my kids (first crayon drawing... actually that's pretty much it).  Other than that, I enjoy the art projects for about a week, then in the trash they go.

If you try to keep everything, it'll consume your house... you should just keep the really top notch things that'll mean something in a few years, and take pictures of the rest.  Then you can have a file on your computer of all the artwork, but it doesn't take up space.  :)

Answer 4

That want I am doing with my kids projects from their school. And I can keep going through them when I want to remember something. My mom did the same thing with out stuff from school.

Answer 5

Obviously you're not going to have more than one because you wouldn't possibly have room for everything they will make for you.  My 5-year-old draws about 2 dozen pictures for me every day, that's a LOT of stuff to save.  So I have him pick out his best ones and put them in plastic pages a special binder I decorated.  Another idea is to take pictures of them with a digital camera and create digital camera collages of all the artwork.  Good luck keeping everything.  I wouldn't be able to stand the clutter.

Answer 6

My daughter is also in daycare, she's 16 months old.  Every week she comes home with a bag full of artwork!  I keep most of it, but to be completely honest, I have thrown out a few "pieces".  If I kept it all, I would need a new house to store it all!  Right now, it's in the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet, but will be boxed eventually.  

Answer 7

I have box files with the years on the spine for each of my children, and when I run out of space, I put things away in the current one.

But I don't keep even all the "art" projects. Right now your son's only tiny, he won't have a great deal of input into what he "makes". But as he gets older you'll find that some of them he obviously put care and attention into, and some he dashed off quick because all the kids were expected to do it. I only keep the first sort. And for schoolwork which comes home at the end of the year I go through it with the kid and we choose say five pieces together to keep (or more if they really want to keep more).

Answer 8

I would put them away, they are so much fun to look at once they are older

Answer 9

OMG Tell me about the ART stuff its all very cute....BUT I keep all mine in a rubbermaide tub and for now thats where it is and my lil guy is 5....there is soooo much stuff I hate to threw it out....the poster under me is right save it all and go through it later and sort it out=)

Answer 10

The majority of mine are in a keepsake box.  I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who keeps this, my husband thinks I'm nuts.  That's a GREAT idea to date them, I'm going to have to start doing that (thanks!).  I don't have every piece of paper either but probably 90% of it and 3 years worth, it's time for another box, lol.  

Answer 11

If you want to keep everything just buy a big rubbermaid container and put the stuff in there.  That way you can store it and they will be kept dry and undamaged because they are protected from the elements.  I used to keep everything until it became too much then just kept things that were very special to me.  I bought frames for some artwork I thought was special and hung it up in my house.

Answer 12

My daughter goes to my MIL's house while I'm at work and she has her make things for me and my husband sometimes. Especially on birthdays and Mother/Father's day, etc. We've been keeping them. My husband keeps his in his gun cabinet. (I know, weird place to put it) I've been putting mine in my dresser drawer.

I also help her make things for Mamaw and Papaw also. Whether or not they keep theirs, I don't know. (I'm sure they do though)

Answer 13

As he gets older you'll probably end up sorting through them and keeping the ones that have meaning to you as opposed to everyday art projects.  When he's bigger he'll start to put more of his own effort and personality into projects and those are probably the ones you'll keep forever.