Does throwing out your kids' artwork make you a mean mommy?

An article in Newsweek paints a not-so-pretty picture of parents who toss out their kids' art work. Actually, it was candidly written and amusing, but we couldn't find another way to write the "not-so-pretty picture" pun. The story turned into a friendly debate here in the Mom•Logic office when we addressed the question: What do we do with the colorful creations our children bring home? Who knew we had such clever ideas?

Mom of a 6 and 3-year-old: Save any piece of paper they touch, even if its got one green cotton ball stuck on orange construction paper with paste. If their name is on it, I save it.

Mom of a tween and teen: First it gets showcased for a few days...family fridge, work bulletin board, bathroom mirror gallery...eventually it gets stashed in the attic. Recently, sadly, we had a rat in the attic who chomped through the box and ate much of the artwork and pooped on the rest. So the archives have been trashed.

Mom of two preschoolers: "I saved everything from my older son his first year. Then when his brother started, I realized I had to pick and choose because art from two boys is just colorful clutter. Now I use the pictures to make birthday cards for friends and relatives. It's the best of both worlds; I get rid of the mess but still honor their hard work."

Mom of a 5-year old agrees: I save them in a drawer, and when it gets too full I start sending pieces
out to far away family members. But I keep the best ones for my personal archive.

Mom of a 6 and 4-year-old: I keep the best of the best in one of those big white mailing tubes. I write my child's name and the year on it. Those tubes are very easy to store and don't take up much room. Hopefully, my kids will enjoy looking at this stuff someday.

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