Around his fourth birthday, a boy I was fostering began drawing what he called ghost families.
He couldnt quite draw people, but he could draw something that resembled ghosts, and they were darling.
Each one felt special, and yet…how many ghost family pictures does one woman need?
(Eleven, apparently.
I just counted, and apparently this woman needselevenghost families.)
But a decade into parenting, Ive learned that these creations just keep coming and coming.
(No, just us?)
Here are some suggestions to try.
Save a representative sample
Themes will emerge in your childs artwork over time.
The aim is to capture a little bit of (almost) everything.
What has worked for me is trying to capture a sample of my favorites.
I do this by stacking my sons creations in a pile in the basement all year round.
At the start of a new year (oh hey, thats right now!
), I go through them and purge.
Pick your favorite from each main category and drop it into a dedicated storage bin.
Ill also say I dont keepeverythinghe makes all year long in this pile.
I can usually tell right away if it isnt worthy of keeping forever.
But if Im undecided, it goes in the pile.
Let your child pick out a sample of their creations to send to far-away family and friends.
Take pictures
You know whats easier to store than 100 pieces of original artwork?
100 photos of that artwork.
I never want to forget them!
If I keep all of this, were going to need to move to a bigger house!
Or let them decide what to display in theirownbedroom, using amagnetic primer.
But you could also kick it up a notch by choosing a few to elevate to Framed Status.
