My four-year-old, Harry, came running out of school, excited to tell me that he’d made a ‘diva’. My first thought, of course, was that he’d fashioned some likeness of Mariah Carey or maybe Diana Ross. I couldn’t think why, but I was willing to go with it. But then, from out of his book bag, he pulled the ‘diva’.

Made of clay, it looked rather like a diseased liver with a candle stuck in the middle. I tried not to recoil. I praised his amazing painting skills and then tucked the diva back in his bag. I wasn’t thinking, “Wow, my child is so talented”, I was thinking “Where the hell am I going to put that monstrosity?!”

Look At All This…Art

The first time your child brings a piece of art back from school, you exclaim with delight, you show everyone, you stick it to the fridge or even frame it and hang it on the wall. All this despite the fact that it’s probably just a collection of paint smudges on rough, khaki-colored paper.

As the child proceeds through preschool and then “big” school, they bring home more and more. Some of it is quite good (although the better it is, the more you suspect they didn’t actually do it themselves). Some of it is dreadful. My son once brought home what looked like a random pile of crap all glued together and poorly painted over. Turned out it was a “rubbish sculpture.” It really was. In more ways than one.

But still you feel like you need to keep it all, don’t you?

I mean, this is your child! He’s creative! He’s amazing! Of course he is. But the actual paintings… well, they’re not so good. But you can’t throw them away, can you? Can you?

You CAN Throw It Out

Of course you can. I’ve put a little test in place: if the picture makes me smile, I keep it. If not (and assuming my son’s not interested in keeping it himself, which he never is), in the bin it goes.

Even using this method, your home may well be overflowing with art that you – you know, if you were really honest – could live without, but a good idea is to take a photograph or scan of the painting (so you’ve done your duty and saved it for posterity) and then throw the painting itself right in the recycling.

And don’t forget about passing any that you no longer want (or didn’t want in the first place) to various relatives. Grandparents are a particularly good choice. Especially since they’ll actually be thrilled to receive an example of their little treasure’s prodigious talent. And only you will know the truth. It’s win-win!

[Photo by ||!prliignore0||]