Paper Clutter

I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing, but I actually throw away everything made of paper. After the fire last summer, I’ve realize how futile it is to try and hold onto anything so fragile to time, so I’ve redoubled my efforts towards our goal of being completely paperless (not meaning we avoid paper, just that we don’t keep paper). I hope that the world doesn’t lose all electrical power, because then my digital files would be useless. But really, if that happens, I probably won’t be longing for my kids’ art projects. Well maybe I would if we ran out of toilet paper. Seriously. Have you run out of TP before? It’s bad.

Anyway, I still relish and love their creativity and artistic pursuits, so we photograph it all and store it digitally. We have done the same since Ana was four. But we always took photos of just their work. This year, I started taking photos of them holding their work. If it is something written, I also take a video of them reading what they wrote.  I’ve also taken videos of them explaining their artwork to me. I really like this way better. The photo isn’t as good of the artwork as it was when I just laid it on a table and photographed, but I love seeing the kids at that moment in time, holding their work.

To be honest, I saved everything from when I was a kid. I’d have to go through everything every year and sort it out. Then sort it the next year, then the next year. It was fun but burdensome. I hope my kids appreciate that I want to keep the fun, but diminish the burden.

 

Here was Elsie’s entry for the Alaska Airlines Paint the Plane competition. She didn’t win, but I thought she did a pretty incredible job, don’t you? (Ana and Cam also did a good job).