The Economic Times

Psychology explains why parents struggle to throw out old report cards, drawings of their children

Parents often preserve old drawings, report cards and handwritten notes long after their children have grown up. Psychology offers several explanations for the emotional value of these objects, including autobiographical memory, nostalgia and the way people build stories around important relationships and life stages. Such keepsakes can serve as physical cues that reconnect parents with childhood memories and their own experiences of parenthood.