People sometimes ask me, "What can I do with all the crayoned masterpieces made by my children when they were young? I want to let the pictures go but they have sentimental value."

Many parents have boxes full of their children's creations, which they never look at but somehow feel obliged to keep long after the child has grown up. Maybe these works of art were once proudly displayed on walls as examples of their children's creative abilities, but decades later they are just stacked somewhere collecting dust and stagnant energy around them. Their time and usefulness has passed.

The best solution I know for this problem is to take photos of the best pieces and then throw all the originals away. They are never going to come in useful some day. And if you ever feel a compelling urge to look through them again, digital images will do the job just as well and take up no physical storage space in your attic at all.

The same can be done with children's clothing and other childhood items being kept by parents (or the adult child themselves) for sentimental reasons. Just take a photo of each item and then let the original go.

Having said all this, I personally don't own a single piece of artwork, clothing or anything else from my childhood, and I don't feel my life lacks anything because of it. In fact, I'm sure that being unencumbered in this way has brought me greater freedom to change and grow. And moving house is certainly a whole lot easier, not having to drag mounds of memorabilia from one place to the next!

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S.T.R.

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I saw a tv show (i can't recall the name) where they did this to help a mum who had stacks of her kids artwork, they used the images as screensavers, quite a neat idea if you are not as hardy as our Karen!

Friday 05 February 2010, 12:32

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Kim

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I clean for a home in which the child has more toys than can comfortably fit into her space--the room is always covered in every imaginable toy, often strewn all over the floor because there isn't any place for it to go. The obvious solution is to give to Goodwill the toys that are used the least, esp. to make room for the Easter rush. I am not the world's most assertive person and the child is adopted and given to screaming fits. How can I say in the kindest way that this clutter is making my work life a misery--not to mention the way it might be affecting the occupants? Is this issue simply none of my business?? Please comment, much appreciation for your advice. (P.S. Welcome back to California, glad you are back!)

Tuesday 16 February 2010, 18:32

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