Kids' Collections: A Lesson Learned

I discovered a blog last night that could redefine the way I parent my children.

That sounds major, doesn't it?

Let me give you some back story...

I'm tidy.

I'm organized.

I'm a clutter-purger.

My kids are collectors of junk.

My kids hoard junk.

My kids have random bits of crap all over their rooms.

And I have never respected their crap.  My son spent a month last summer collecting beer caps.  I got sick of finding them everywhere so I took them and let my Girl Scout troop use them for a project.

My daughter had a box of dirty old driveway rocks under her bed for over a year.  I needed the box they were in and so I threw them out.  While she was at school.

My kids are onto me.  I throw stuff out so often that when they ask me,

"Mom, have you seen my new McDonald's toy?"

and I tell them no...

they immediately say,

"Mom, did you throw it away?"

(to which I always play dumb.)

Their stuff is crap to me, but to them it's a treasure.  Something to collect.  And to them it's very important.  I realized this after finding this blog (which is a 365 Project of hers).

I went to bed with a completely different view of the items my kids choose to collect and keep.  This morning I vowed to both kids that I would no longer throw away their collections. 

(You know there's a catch, don't you?)

So I'm going to help them display their important items.  Organize them and keep them tidy.  So that I can live in harmony with their crap. 

This morning I started with Camden.  We pulled some canning jars in from the garage and headed for his room.  He had three collections that we found and bottled up.

Then we went downstairs to begin labelling his jars.

He has a collection of "armies" (aka army men), empty bullet shells, and handmade Boise State football tickets.

That is a MAN collection, no?

Now his important crap items are organized, labeled, and stored prominently in his room.  Like they should be.

When Jaelyn gets home, we'll do the same. 

...If you don't hear from me by tomorrow, it's because I got swallowed by the junk monster under her bed!  In that case, send someone with the Jaws of Life.