No lying allowed, what do you do with all the art your kids bring home from school?

[Connonym]

I can't be the only mom who throws some of this away. Can I? Am I THAT bad of a mom?

[KitchenWitch]

1. I select the best 10 specimens per grade year

and "recycle" the rest.

[fortyfeetunder]

2. The paper gets recycled.

The other gifts, I find frames and hangers for. My kid has turned out some cute things.

[SeattleGirl]

3. I've saved all my daughter's artwork.

However, she grew up mostly with her dad, so I didn't have a lot during that time.

One of my prized possessions is a painting she did when she was 8 years old of some yellow flowers.

I also have a bust she did in ceramics in high school. Her teacher arranged for her and her classmates to show their work at a local gallery. She had lots of offers from people to buy her piece, but she wouldn't sell it (thank goodness!).

It's on a shelf in my living room now, and I told her she can't have it back, it's MINE!

[Suich]

4. I still have a full box in the basement.

My kids are in their 40's!

O8)

[elleng]

5. Some? No.

Boxes in attic collect stuff.

[NYC_SKP]

6. It's FLAT, how much space can it take up if you stack it?

My mom lost it all, I've got friends whose mom kept it all, and some of it is put up at holidays.

It's not too hard to keep if you lay one on top of another.

Now the 3-D stuff, pottery, etc., I can't help you on that!

:hi:

[rcrush]

7. Put it all in a pile and burn it on Christmas morning.

It'll be a tradition everyone will remember.

[zanne]

11. I nominate you for Parent of the Year! nt

[RadiationTherapy]

8. Scanned and mailed/disposed of.

I am going to make her a website.

After they are scanned, they can be printed and added to a photo collage or put in a frame. Kinda cool.

[Lyric]

9. Honestly? The good stuff gets saved/displayed.

The stuff that he obviously hasn't invested himself in gets admired, and then discreetly thrown away. We don't throw away anything he seems extremely proud of, because that's an indication that he really worked hard on it.

We have one of his paintings on canvas waiting to be framed, but that was a home art project, not a school one.

:hi:

[Inchworm]

10. I framed some abstract art daughter did when she was 4ish

It's still hanging in my living room.

I kept hells of her stuff but do find myself throwing away piece by piece as I find them stashed in the house. I do it with a smile and an awwww though :)

:hi:

PS: I'm a dad ;)

[yellowdogintexas]

18. I have a big box of stuff, and two very early favorites that are in this room

We just framed a new piece of hers that she made for her dad for Christmas.

(she is 24 now) http://suzannewood.deviantart.com/art/koi-and-girl-94172276

[HopeHoops]

12. I used the boxes I collected over the years to build the basement of my new house.

Just kidding - they are IN the basement of THIS house. Every once in a while, we pull one out, go through it with the kids and keep the few pieces one of us remembers.

[seemunkee]

13. We have a storage bin of our kids art and school work

You can't save everything. There is just too much stuff.
We also have a bin of our/their favorite clothes.

[surrealAmerican]

14. The stuff is all over the house!

The kids(2 of them) are teens now, and there are some rooms that are very hard to walk through now.

[justabob]

15. some stays, some goes

It is a lot easier now we have made it to middle school. The art is better and there is not as much of it to manage. :)

[sakabatou]

16. I don't have kids

But my mom has them either all around our house or her office her office.

[MorningGlow]

17. I try to harden my heart and keep only the best specimens

For the two years MG Jr. was in preschool, I automatically stuffed everything into two plastic totes. When he finished preschool, I sorted through the bins--"keep, toss, keep, toss" and STILL ended up with way too much. Gave some to my mom, gave up on thinning the herd any more, and stuffed the bin onto a top shelf of a closet.

So far his kindergarten output fits into an oversized manila folder (although it's bulging) in a file slot in my desk. But pretty soon I'm going to have to get tough with that stash too. Luckily it's easy to chuck the pieces of construction paper with what amounts to scribbles. I've put some of his watercolors on the fridge, though.

The best piece he's done so far has a permanent place on the pillar between the kitchen and the dining room. He did it in preschool--it's a hanging ceramic flower holder (artificial posies). His teacher said his was the best in both her classes--and it does look like something from a gallery!

[Debi]

19. I am JUST NOW throwing out 'art' from school

and Debi, Jr. is 20. x(

I have a basement full of bags and boxes of his works. (and quizzes and notes from teachers). Oh how I wish I would have 'culled' the stuff each school year.

[AlCzervik]

20. Large rubber maid storage bins.

i have 4 of them in my garage holding artwork, i haven't saved all of it. She just brought 3 projects home from school, 2 the headmaster hung in his office for over a year until i finally called an asked if i could have them, anyhow those 3 are getting framed and hung up in my house.

[petronius]

21. I don't have kids, but my mom kept and still has much of mine

Geez, it sure is total crap... :rofl:

[harmonicon]

22. this calls for a classic:

This was a Christmas gift from Kelly to her parents. Good job Kelly, now pack up your shit and find a foster home. If my kids tried to pass this off as a gift, they'd come home from school and find all their shit outside in a box. What a lousy gift, seriously. You give them video games and toys, and they give you some half-assed drawing with a crooked tree. I wonder how much a gift like this would set someone back. Five, maybe ten minutes to find a napkin and some markers? F

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