Five reasons to save all your children's schoolwork (and another five to throw it away)

Many scientists study the carbon footprint we leave as we go through existence, consuming products and spending the planet. But parents are concerned about another type of trace left by a specific group of creatures. I'm talking specifically about the children's schoolwork. And the fact is that from their entry into the Nursery School until the end of their vocational training or their degree or even their Master's degree, they are bringing home a trail of physical documents that summarize their countless hours of effort in the classroom. As if it were a collection to which you have subscribed, each issue of this children's evolution arrives at home with a certain periodicity. And, like the fascicles, the enthusiasm is lost issue by issue.

But you still have to review it with the children and discover the fascinating parts of this evolution, even if, sometimes, it only consists of having stuck a tree leaf on a piece of paper or painted some stripes over a drawing. The point is that sooner or later all this material forms a kind of tartar in the harmony of your home. There are those who organize it and order it well, and there are those who leave it on top of tables, closets and magazine racks to enjoy it without haste, and in the end these works remain there for half a year.

Sooner or later, the entire family unit must consider what to do with all of this. The most successful options are to save or throw away, in their entirety or with a more or less conscious sieve. This topic, which may seem trivial, ends up generating conflict in many homes, so don't take it as a joke. And since your children surely came home before Christmas with a swollen folder full of papers, here I leave you ideas and reflections to help you tip the balance towards one of the options.

Five reasons to save them

1. For love. These works are made with a lot of love. Maybe there is little art or it is very cave-like. And the jobs are repetitive and not very personal (such as writing numbers and letters, painting figures, etc.). But in the same way that you save your children's pacifier or baby clothes, you can also save their evolution. Of course, if you don't have space it doesn't mean you don't want them.
2. Because they are the physical expression of how your children progress since childhood. Saving them is giving importance to their effort and promoting their self-esteem. It is telling them that what they do is worth it. And, by the way, if you dare to hang some work on the refrigerator or on a door or wall it will be phenomenal.
3. As adults they will love to remember what they did in their earliest childhood. And unlike official documents, of which you can always request a copy from an organization, these works are either kept by you or they will disappear forever.
4. You already have closets full of junk and useless things. Nothing happens for a little longer. And it's faster to save everything than to evaluate page by page.
5. Because it is a cheap investment for the future. In museums dedicated to Dalí and Picasso, for example, children's drawings that the artists made at a very tender age are exhibited. If their families had kept the children's works they could have sold them for a fortune.

Five reasons to get rid of them

1. You don't have room. Apartments are getting smaller and children are generating more and more material. Whether you have to move in the future or you are always going to live in the same apartment, there is nothing else for you.
2. The jobs are objectively ugly. If they are now, they will still be so in a few years. Throw them away now.
3. To end up throwing them away in 20 years, it's better to throw them away now. Think about your future self and make life easier for him.
4. You will not look at them or consult them again. They will remain in an attic, in a box, in a storage room or on top of a closet until the sun, dust or humidity turn them into dried Egyptian papyri that no one will have the nose to touch anymore.
5. If your children are not interested in their own material now, imagine 20 years from now. That space can be dedicated to storing more useful documentation, such as school notes or reports, or the toys that they prefer, with which they will have an emotional bond throughout their lives.

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