If you kept...

[DrowningInThings]

...the corks from the champagne bottles you drank when your baby was born, the gift tags from the flowers/gifts you received in hospital, feeding diary from the first week, every birthday card your child has received from birth until they left home. What exactly do you expect your DC to do with it? Do you even ever go and look at it yourself. Kind of worried if I dig further I'm going to find some teeth or hair 🤢

I’d expect my child to put them in the bin! You’ve kept them because they are sentimental to you, that doesn’t mean your kids will also find them to be sentimental and want to keep them. DD and I were going through some things the other day and had this conversation. Keep it because you want to but don’t expect anyone else to have the same attachment.

That makes me feel slightly better!

DM didn’t keep anything apart from a few school photos (of people I don’t know) and some clothes. When DS was born she handed me a pile of yellowed acrylic clothes with decayed elastic… I don’t feel unloved for not having bits of ancient hair or teeth in a an envelope.

I have everything related to my 20 year old ds - every new baby and birthday cards drawings, school reports, clothes he wore to come home from hospital, hospital tags and yes, I have a lock of hair and baby teeth!

Pleased to report no body parts were found!

@Bbq1 but what do you do with it all? Do you ever take it out and look at it apart from when you move house ? Are you planning to give it to your DS at some point? (When he gets his own place, has DC etc)

@TheSalvadorsStickbymebaby that's a completely different scenario.

I found a jar containing my baby teeth when we were helping my mother move house a few years ago. I'm 46.

Please be assured that it went straight in the bin.

My "baby boxes" contain hospital bands, newspapers from the day, cards received, first shoe, lock of hair, baby book, hospital name cards etc.

My teenagers have asked to look at their boxes a couple of times, so vaguely interested. I don't expect they'll take them when they move out, or anything. When I go, chuck 'em. They're my precious memories, not theirs.

I kept some of those bits and dc enjoyed looking at them when they were growing up. It was a good talking point. They are teens/adult now and I asked them to go through everything and see what they wanted to keep and throw the rest. I said I didn't expect them to keep anything. They all have a small box full of bits they've kept.
My parents on the other hand downsized recently and must have given me every school book, card, etc I ever received it all went in the bin.

@DrowningInThings
I occasionally look at the clothes and reports. Ds does like to see them from time to time and like me he is very sentimental . I think he will enjoy having the bag of clothes and keepsakes one day but maybe not so much the endless paintings he did as a toddler etc! We also have a lot of his childhood books and toys too. He's saving his rocking horse (in the loft along with everything else) for hopefully his own dc one day.

I have all this stuff. Well the DC have memory boxes I keep everything in for them, including the positive pregnancy tests!!! I’m under no illusion they will want any of it and will probably at some point have to have a good sort and sentimental burning of most of it. They’re 23 and 20 so there’s quite a collection.