It is so wonderful to relish the daily schoolwork and drawings your child produces. When sentimentality digs in, it can be very difficult to weed through the multitude of paperwork, projects, artist renditions, and awards that begin to take over the house.
Finding a place to store all of your child’s treasures can be daunting and, at times, futile. It is just impossible and unnecessary to keep every last scrap of paper. Yet, how do you decide what to keep, and where do you keep it?
Digitize your Child’s Memories
Luckily, with the invention of digital cameras and scanners and the ease of availability of these products for home use, the memories of a childhood can be saved without keeping every tangible item.
First, decide what is most important. Perhaps a difficult test, with a great score and hours of studying behind it, might be a keeper. Pick some drawings that show development over time, or remind you and your child of a special story. (You don’t need to save every stick figure your child ever drew.)
Next, scan the most important stories, drawings, and schoolwork into your computer. Keep them in a file, or several files, labeled accordingly. You may want to label files by grade, year, or type of project.
For three-dimensional objects, such as clay sculptures, dioramas, or puppets, take a digital picture and add that to your computer files. Hold on to small pieces of fabric or other material. I’ll tell you why in a minute.
Label all scanned or photographic images with a date, at least the year, and what the object is.
Photobooks are not just for Photographs.
Now that you have all of your most important memories ready to go, you can create a photobook. There are many websites that offer photobooks to create and purchase. Local stores such as CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart make them through the stores themselves or on their websites. Other sites such as Snapfish.com, Winkflash.com, and Shutterfly.com offer photobook creations, as well as online photo storage, and many other products. Most photobooks run from $10 - $30, but can cost more, depending upon the amount of pages you add and the type of cover you choose. You can also search for coupon and promotional codes that will save you some money.
Get Creative
After organizing and placing your memory photographs into the online photobooks, fill the text spaces with words that evoke special memories. Some examples are:
- A child’s quotes
- Short stories
- Special notes from the teacher
- Your child’s description of the memory
- A passage from your child’s favorite book
If you keep bits of fabric, paper, or other small, flat material from your child’s creations, you can glue these into the book once it is completed and you receive it in the mail. Touching that piece of newspaper that was once part of her paper maché mask will bring back delightful memories.
Memories for your Child or Gifts for your Family
The creation of these wonderful memory books does not only reduce the clutter in your home, but also showcase your child’s work in a much more productive and entertaining way. Instead of schoolwork, drawings, and projects being hidden away in a box somewhere, the most cherished creations will be available for your family and friends to enjoy regularly. When your child grows and moves away, instead of a box or two or three of old, yellow papers, he’ll receive a set of lovely books that he can keep forever. If you choose, you can also order multiple copies of these books to send to family members who live far away. Now everyone can share in your child’s wonderful work!
Joanne Hall - With 41 years of experience on Planet Earth, I bring what I have learned through my successes and many mistakes along the way.
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