Between home movies, school art projects, childhood books and all the other things worth holding on to, the average parent has amassed an incredible 1,293 keepsakes.
A new survey looked at parental sentimentality and examined all the things that moms and dads hold dear long after their child grows up.
Results showed that photographs make up the majority of items deemed worth saving, as the average family surveyed has more than 950 photos of their children.
SWNS The study of 2,000 American parents of school-aged children, commissioned by Canon USA and conducted by OnePoll, found that it can be hard to part with items of sentimental value — the average household has five boxes of keepsakes and an additional 21 photographs of their children printed and out for display.
Still, six in 10 parents wish they had more of their children’s keepsakes displayed in their home.
Many keepsakes have to do with a child’s “firsts”. More than six in 10 parents surveyed have hair from their child’s first haircut, as well as a first handprint or footprint, baby teeth and ultrasound images.
And documenting a child’s growth is clearly important to parents, which may be why 45 percent of the average surveyed parent’s keepsakes are from a child’s birth to before they started school.
School was shown to be an important place to make keepsakes. It was reported that children bring home an impressive 47 art projects a year from elementary school, and parents report holding on to almost 40 percent of them.
Even with all the keepsakes parents do have, 53 percent of those polled regret not having more from certain moments of their children’s lives.
“Now that the holidays have come and gone, it’s time to put all the new photos we captured to work. Take a look around your home, there are probably some frames with outdated photos that could use a refresh and now you have a year’s worth of photos to fill them,” Elsie Larson of “A Beautiful Mess,” a Canon brand ambassador, said.
“You can even get ahead of the game and make your own photo greetings cards for the year so when a birthday, anniversary or ‘just because’ moment pops up – you’re already prepared.”
When looking through the items they have collected, 43 percent of parents reported feeling prideful of their children.
Eighty-seven percent reported feeling very proud when their child won an award at school, and 70 percent reported the same for their child’s first day of elementary school.
Elementary school seemed to be an especially important time for parents and children alike — the survey found that 31 percent of parents think kindergarten was the most memorable school year for their children.
Three in 10 parents reported being most sentimental in the back-to-school season.
And results found that for 27 percent of respondents, the holiday season is when sentimental feelings are the strongest.
With all the keepsakes parents have amassed from their children’s lives, 51 percent plan to make a scrapbook, while 44 percent plan to use their printed photographs for a photo album.
Parents hold on to keepsakes for a variety of reasons, but 71 percent reported collecting them with the intent to show their children later in life — and almost six in 10 said the items remind them of happy memories.
“A year’s worth of memories deserves more than being stored in your camera roll. Printing photos and creating tangible keepsakes is a lot easier than most people think,” Chapman said.
Four in 10 parents give the collected keepsakes to their child, allowing them to decide how to use them.
The survey results show that photographs are a valued keepsake for parents, providing an easy way to hold on to their child’s important moments — “firsts” and otherwise.
