Respond Immediately. By the third round of requests
for payments for the annual yearbook, you won’t even hesitate
to toss that sucker in the trash. Why? Because you always re-
spond immediately to anything you want to participate in and
you chuck the rest. Don’t confuse matters by waiting until later.
If “immediately” doesn’t work for you, take care of multiple-
step responses on Fridays or Mondays, or whatever day works
best. Then, the next time the teacher is hollering through her
paper megaphone that this is the tenth reminder to send in field
trip money, you will smile smugly and recycle it. Because you
always take care of those requests the first time around.
But It’s Art! You can keep it but have some display
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cycles you put your kids’ artwork through for maximum en-
joyment before the works go to the big craft heaven in the sky
(or the big plastic tub in the basement or the attic or under the
bed). In the meantime, hang up a “clothesline” in the kitchen,
put up kid’s artwork frames around the house, and hang mag-
netized strips or cork strips in their rooms for the parade of
self-expression to come. If you put art up and out for a while,
and take photos of it, you might be willing to let go of it sooner.
Preserve The Standouts. Your child does not want
to remember that she was the last one in class to memorize her
addition and subtraction tables, so throw the evidence away.
But she may wish to remember the awesome story she wrote
when she could barely spell about how she and her best friend
stared down a millipede on the playground during recess. Set
aside one large plastic tub for each child’s artwork and ephem-
era. The best time for shaking down the clutter that is bound to
accumulate in tubs is each summer, once you’ve regained some
detachment.
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My, That’s Bulky. More power to teachers who can
make lessons three-dimensional wonders of elbow noodles,
glue, and glitter. Have your child pose with the masterpiece.
Get several shots. Make sure you get a good one. Then “store”
the masterpiece in the basement or garage on a special shelf
or rack set aside for amazing artwork. When the shelf is full,
take some shots of the whole range of work, from many angles.
Then discretely dispose of the whole lot at the beginning of
each new school year, leaving room for more.
Share The Wealth. At some point, you will have your
paper trail tamed but there is virtually nothing you can (or
should) do to hamper your child’s insatiable desire to create.
Encourage your little Picasso instead. Keep manila envelopes
addressed and ready-to-mail to relatives in one of your cloth
wall pockets so you can easily capture and share some of the
seasonal artwork overflow for relatives. You’ve got a lot of pa-
per joy floating around your home — you may as well share the
wealth. Happy back to school!
Author, journalist, and writing coach Christina Katz likes
school, back-to-school shopping, and even some of the parents
who insist on double-parking at child pick-up time, but paper
clutter doesn’t stand a chance.
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September 2019 WNY Family 13