As moms, we are the curator of our children’s memories.
We keep the finger paintings, the scribbles on note pads, the mother’s day projects, and endless other papers that fill our homes.
It is another burden that can weigh on our motherhood journey and make us feel trapped.
I have been guilty of holding one saying I will make photo books out of the endless “art” they bring home. But I don’t, and it ends up stuffed in drawers or bags that fill my closets. I can’t bear to throw them away, but also I can breathe from the weight of all of it.
But approaching the paper piles without a plan can spell big trouble.
One time I did start throwing away any school paper my son’s teacher had checked only to find out that he was supposed to keep his state of the week sheets for an end-of-the-year project. Total mom fail that then made me stress to never throw anything out with double checking again.
I had a chance to talk with Tamar Prager (who is an expert on dealing with “paper weight” ) about coping with the end-of-school papers on their way home in the backpacks of children as the end of the school year quickly approaches.
Tamar gave helpful tips on ways to approach the paper clutter so that everyone feels lighter from it.
The top 3 tips I took away from our insightful conversation were.
1) Know your child -Is everything a must keep or do they even care? She said some kids have no attachment, and you can quickly go through their papers with or without (though I now always go through with them to avoid the mistake I shared above).
Other kids are attached to every piece of paper. In those cases, she suggested having a waiting period to allow for the energy of the end of the school year to disperse and showing a few pieces at a time. It’s not worth fighting over the papers but allow for a contained space to hold them while you go through the process.
2) Have a Bin or box ready so you know where you are keeping and how much space you have.
You can get a fancy plastic bin or just save an amazon box. Label what you are putting in it and have space where you will store it.
3) What is your intention for keeping the paper/project?
Knowing why you are keeping it helps to figure out if it’s essential or just extra. Tarma said, “As moms, we are the containers for so very much. Finding ways to let a lot of it go, is such a worthwhile path.” Have a conversation with your child beforehand to help them think about what they need or want and what they can let go. Holding on to papers creates hidden burdens that we will need to process at some point. Teaching children to let go of these unnecessary papers will help them to let go of other weights in life that hold them back.
In the end what we keep we allow to hold a place in our lives. Allowing ourselves the freedom to let go instead of being a prisoner to these memories can help us to treasure the present moments with our family without the burden of stuff.
Go check out the live for the entire conversation and leave a comment if you found it liberating. Also, check out @tamarprager for more tips on getting rid of paper weight.