I am drowning in posts I need to post - I am finding that as my children age (which is a whole additional post altogether, my boys are now boys, they are not toddlers, they are big. I am heartbroken and excited at the same time…). Anyway, the posts might be less-long, and more short scenes into life. So, here we are with one, and the long emotional post about how sad and happy I am that they are getting bigger will hopefully come soon too.
My son, Joel Andrew, likes to color. It is his new favorite thing, other than Octonauts. He colors about 15 coloring book pages a day at daycare. I kid you not, 15. Daycare shoves them in his mailbox and we are forced to take them home. I purposely leave them there until the mailbox is overflowing. Don't they get it? I do not want 60 coloring book pages to bring home a week, and then what do we do with them? I have one huge storage box filled with their artwork already, and I do not want too many more so the goal is only to save the "best" art - which is the art of their own creation, with their handprints and all that stuff, not some crayon on a ripped out page from a coloring book. Am I mean?
Anyway, what I have been doing is leaving the coloring book pages out on the kitchen counter. Joel talks about them with me, shows them off. Tells me when his friend's have helped (not only do I get Joel's pages, but Jessica's as well! Argh!) - and then when Joel goes upstairs to hang out with Daddy, I throw them in the trash. Yes, yes, I do.
Anyway, last week, Joel came back downstairs from hanging with Daddy and asked for a cheese stick. He peeled off the wrapper, went to put it in the trash, and upon opening the bin noticed his drawings on top. I told him: "I have no idea how those ended up in there, that is horrible, this is your beautiful artwork." He looked at me sideways, was clearly annoyed (was it because I am lying, or because I threw away his artwork?). He strongly suggested I hang one of the artworks up. Which I did, on the chalkboard - until a few days later when I threw it out again, under some trash in the can.
I am so mean! My son is so smart! And talented…! What do you guys do with the mountains of artwork?
I throw everything away. Jeremy says I'm heartless so I tell him he can keep anything he wants of Cameron's artwork in his office.
ReplyDeleteI have a binder with the clear plastic sheets. The boys can fill the binder with works of art but are limited to the number of clear plastic sheets. They get to choose what stays and what goes. Each year they get a new binder. I do keep a small tote of the "special" art work. Just an idea. My boys like that they get to choose which = no tears
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