Sentimental or Practical?

If I told you that 95% of the "art work" my children bring home ends up in the trash within 48 hours (if not minutes), do you:
A. Gasp in horror
B. Nod in understanding
C. Air fist pump in solidarity

I cannot handle the amount of paper clutter that can fit in my children's 10" backpacks. It amazes me. Some of it is cool and goes of the fridge for a few weeks, but I don't like fridge clutter either so we only have one clip designated for art work. The way I see it, they learn early that only the best wins.

(Again, you're either: A. Gasping in horror at my insensitivity B. Nodding as you remember the scribbles you recently discarded or C. Air fist pumping with one hand and ditching the latest batch at my encouragement.)

There is a chance that this stems from my severe lack of artistic ability. I remember vividly the clay turtle I made in fifth grade whose shell was supposed to serve as some kind of miniature storage. The two-part shell did not align properly and it certainly wasn't deep enough to be used for anything more than paper clips.

Nonetheless, my clay turtle made moves with us. It survived my childhood and well into young adulthood. For all I know it's still on my mother's end table. (Some of my lifelong friends are like "oh yeah, I remember that turtle," because it was proudly displayed in our living room for years. Then they probably picture the actually functional, or at least pretty clay objects they also made in the same art class.)

To this day, I refuse nearly all crafts - just ask my MOPS group. I was the only one who indicated "too many crafts" on the year end survey. So imagine my horror as I get further into motherhood and realize that I am expected to craft with my child. Here I am thinking I left all clay turtle abominations in my past, only to be confronted by an art kit my child received for her birthday that involves fuzzy balls, glue, and googly eyes.

THE WORST.

Before you hang me out to dry for squelching my children's artistic expressions via the trash, in my own defense, I do ask my daughter (sometimes) if she'd like to keep things. Sometimes she says, "yes" and they go into her room and I throw them out when I clean her room a week later. Sometimes she self-admits that they're no good and trashes them herself. So really, I'm just speeding up the process or beating her to it.

All this to say, I hope I'm not the only parent who ditches their kids art work. Some of you probably have organized bins by age where you can see their letters progress and track their development from outside the lines to in. And let me just say, there will be a moment years from now when you will say with tears in your eyes, "Oh my gosh, look! I can't believe I kept this! This is so cute!" and my kids will be like "Why didn't you keep any of my art work, Mom?" with that teenage angst in their voice like I don't care about them at all and never have and don't understand anything, so... there's that.