Drowning in a Sea of Paperwork

This is 1/10th of the end of school year mess I still have going on in my house. PAPER is EVERYWHERE! At the end of the school year the teachers send EVERYTHING home. I mean E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G!!!! Every little scrap of paper. Every little workbook. Every ratty notebook. EVERYTHING.

I guess there are some parents out there who want to go through every piece of paper their child wrote on to inspect it for some brilliance--- I'm not one of them! I feel a little guilty saying that- but it's true. I only want to see what's important--- good or bad. The problem is- BECAUSE the teachers sent it home--- I feel the need and obligation to look at every stinkin' thing.... just in case I'm missing something important!!! Is this by design? Is this some cruel test by the teachers to see if I'm paying attention and really care about my children?? Paranoia sets in. What if the teacher sent home a specific list of books to read that apply to my child and my child alone? PRESSURE TO BE A GOOD PARENT IS IMMENSE THESE DAYS FOLKS!

It really is a vicious cycle for me. I gather it up into a neat pile, the kids bring me more "stuff", then the mail comes and I create a second pile for that... and just when I think I'm getting to the bottom of the stack--- I find more... and I keep that to go through at a later date! Then- once it's all gone through- I have the "save pile"--- which basically never gets put away!

You think I would have sorted through everything by now. It has been a few weeks since the kids got out of school for the summer. The fact is- I haven't. It's truly overwhelming. I can say this- I feel the "purge urge" coming on--- and good things come from that.  I just hope and pray I don't throw anything important away!