Forget sentimentality, toss out your child’s art

We encourage our children to do lots of art projects. It’s a relic of the past, of a younger child, of a time that is safely part of history, a brilliant rendering of their maturing brains, how could I possibly throw it out? I look away and my older child has learnt the phrase “by the way” and is using it to begin each sentence. It’s so sentimental and I simply have no time or desire for sentimentality right now, so that means the art work has to go before I become attached and start trying to figure out ways to get it turned into a necklace for myself. This morning she was looking around the playroom and said to me, “By the way, where’s my balloon?” I felt a little guilty remembering poking it with a safety pin to let the air out before tossing the shrivelled pink thing into the trash last night.