Home becoming museum for kids’ art

“Because I Said So” column for The Commercial Appeal

October 1, 2009

One of the first really confusing things about children for me, other than how you make a diaper stay on and how to bathe a kid in the kitchen sink and then prepare food to eat later in and around that sink, was what to do with all of the “artwork” brought home from school.

If we’re frank, it’s not very good, is it? Be honest, parents. We tell our kids how talented they are and how the drawing of a house looks “just like our house” but, in reality, the windows are all out of proportion to the structure, and you would never, ever paint your house that shade of purple.

Yet, we feel compelled to keep this … art. First, on the refrigerator with the decorative magnet they made in kindergarten which, honestly, isn’t very attractive either. Later the artwork ends up stacked at the far end of your kitchen counter. There, just above the junk drawer, shuffled in with bills, coupons and an unfinished crossword. But then what? It can’t stay there forever … (read more)