Coin colleting and your kids.

SanctionII

Many collectors, including yours truly, have families, including minor children. For those forum members who do, have you ever tried to get your kids interested in the hobby? If so, what luck, if any did you have. As for me, my kids have not shown much (any) interest. I caught the bug when I was seven (my dad gave me a Whitman Roosie holder and I was off to the races). For those who have kids that took up the hobby, at what age did your kids catch the bug?

Longacre

My daughter is 3 1/2 years old, and she loves to look at my coins with the magnifying glass. I have a bunch of "junk" that I let her look at and handle, and she already knows how to properly hold a coin by its edges. When given the choice, she tends to grab the Ikes (I think becuase they are the biggest).

ziggy29

I don't have kids unless you include our two cats, but I was a kid once and I remember that it was my dad's collection which got me bit by the collecting bug when I was about 6.

WACoinGuy

I gave my 9-month old a slabbed shiny Morgan dollar. He loves to hold it in his hands and turn it around -- studying it from all angles. Maybe he'll grow up interested in silver dollars!

mirabela

I'm hoping my daughter (1 year old) gets turned on later. It was my great grandfather's collection (mainly Morgans) that got me going when I was about seven.

trezo

My boys are 6 & 8, they will help me look through rolls of wheaties, they each have state quarter books they are filling and they like to see my new purchases, but as far as really being interested, they are not. I'm just hoping that I'm planting seeds that will take hold when they get older.

When each one was born, I started buying unc set, proof sets, ASE and modern commems that I will offer them for graduation. They will have a choice of a 17/18 year collection or cash equivilent to 50% of what the set is worth. I'm not going to tell them what the collection is worth, that's when I'll know if they are interested or not.

As for myself, my father collected a little bit and I got his leftovers around when I was 9 or 10. I never really started spending money on the collection until a couple of years ago. So seeds that were planted when I was young, never bloomed until 30 years later!

vega1

My two oldest (10 and 7) have coin collections going that I have started them on. My 7 year old has a tough time keeping them out of his piggy bank though. The 10 year old has his coins all sectioned out in 2x2s that I gave him, and in a special box. He also has a State quarters map he's filling. I took him to a coin show and he seemed to like it quite a bit, but he's no fanatic. He would step over a coin to get to a Yu Gi Oh card any day. My 4 year old girl loves shiny things, but usually they dissappear and then end up in the oddest places (like the fridge). Trying to foster an interest though.

topstuf

Not just to throw cold water, but......BE CAREFUL......with kids and coins.

Not many have an interest because coins don't take batteries or make really LOUD noises.

However......MANY ........ kids... are the reason that coin collections "walk away."

At the shop, I would estimate that of all our stolen coin calls (coins unrecoverable by the way as "unidentifiable") ....at LEAST 75% of the suspects were either the kids or the kids' friends.

You never know WHO your kid is bragging about your coins to.


Just.....be careful.


It is RARE for a burglar to take coins unless you are REALLY stupid and leave them out in plain sight.

But the KIDS know where they are. And some kids tell EVERYTHING.




ONE in particular comes to mind. As he accompanied his dad on a 30 ounce gold buying trip, the kid was on the KID'S cell phone sayin, "Oh, I,m just at the coin shop where my dad is getting a WHOLE BUNCH of gold."
.....truth.

Shamika

I gave my 7 year old son Littleton folders for Jefferson nickels and Lincoln cents and he's really into them. I started at the same age so I figured it was time to gauge his interest.

There is but one small problem. I've only now discovered that I prefer the solitude of collecting, while he loves the father-and-son camaraderie of collecting.

I adore my son and love doing things with him (we spent Saturday at a Rock and Mineral show), however I now can't log onto my home computer for one second without him jumping all over me to see what I'm looking at now. Add to this the fact that he's constantly asking me "how much is that coin worth?" and you can see my dilemma.

Geoman

I took up the hobby when I was nine years old. My Dad gave me a blue Whitman folder for Lincoln cents for my 9th birthday. I collected for many years after, stopped during high school and college years, and started back up again several years back.

I plan on getting my kids interested in coins (if they wish) but will need to wait a few years. My kids are 4 1/2, 2 1/2 and 3 months. Although some state that kids as young as 4 can collect coins, I believe that I will wait until they are between 8-10 years old to try and get them started.

Murphy

Oh I remember one 4th of July many years ago, my brother and I raided dad's coin box. We took just enough to get a gross of cherry bombs. I remember a large penny - real large! I thought at the time. I told my brother, you know he's gonna miss it. My brother talked me into taking a whoopin for a gross of cherry bombs. It was almost worth it.

Riceman

My eldest daughter turned 8 years old last week. We joined a local coin club over a year ago where she gets a lot of attention - she likes that. We've "worked" on various projects over the last year such as her first exhibit. Since Pittsburgh is our hometown, we'll be at the ANA YN auction on Saturday morning doing the father/daughter thing - I like that.

RYK

I collect state quarters and buffalo nickels with my 5 year old son. He really likes that buffalo design and has a good eye. Unfortunately, at the most recent coin show that he accompanied me, he was far more interested in the Lord of the Rings tokens (despite that he really has not even seen the movie) than he was the real coins. And like vega1's son, he would gladly trade a 37-D 3-legged buffalo in MS-65 for a beat-up common Yu-Gi-Oh card.

pursuitofliberty

Let's see ... I have three ... and three different (on-going) experiences.

My oldest is now 16, and between work, band, school and friends he has kindof lost interest (except he still likes to look at Dad's newps). He started at about 5 tagging along during Mom's nap time on rainy days and we ended up with some pretty nice EF/AU early Lincolns that we carefully put in an old Whitman. About three years ago (after the Pokemon, Gameboys and other such items) he got really interested in Peace Dollars (after a story I told him about a famous Peace Dollar in our family). So for a couple years, up until about a year ago (when he kind of lost interest), we kept looking and picked up about 10 Choice AU examples. He decided to buy PCGS coins for that colelction, and so he has a nice little collection of PCGS AU55 and 58 better-date Peace Dollars as well. He has a lot of pride in his stuff, and enjoys is ANA Jr Membership, but he is considering selling off most of his collection. The fire just isn't there right now ... and like so many of us were at that age, interests are elsewhere.

My daughter is now 13, and up until very recently she has never shown any real interest other than she has always loved Dad's fractionals. I bring them home a couple times a year, and she is fascinated. I also bought her a few Gem Jeffersons and Washingtons because she likes those designs, but the spark never grabbed her. However recently, I have noticed that when she finds an odd, old or foriegn coin she carefully puts it in a poly bag and hangs in on her bulletin board. Kinda kewl ... like lordmarcovans vest.

My youngest is 8, and he is an animal ... at least when it comes to coins ... and rocks. He saves up his money and then "goes shopping". He is an eagle eye on the change search. He has a small collection of Walkers (AU+ in a Whitman), a bigger collection of circulated silvers and foriegns, and is so into rocks right now, he just doesn't have enough allowance. Funny ... he's one who'd take a rock or a coin over a Yu Gi Oh any day. We'll see if the fire stays with him ...


I think the best thing is that each of them are unique and although I haven't tried to pressure them, each has found some interesting history (and maybe there is a spawned life-long passion for one or more of them) and have really enjoyed looking at and lerning about the things they like best.

Coinerww

I am a kid right now so I don't have kids.

hockeyman1717

I only started about a year ago when I was 13. One of my favorite things to do was to go through some circulated bags of silver quarters, halves, anthing around that my grandparents left me. But still one of my favorite things to do is search rolls for cool finds. Silver, off centers, errors, etc. Show em what can be found in the roll. And see if they enjoy bustin em upon and looking through them. You could even put a couple things in there to find. I could do it for hours, see if they enjoy it as well. Give em a roll of lincolns, put an off-center and a couple of wheaties in there and let them have at it .

ddbird

I would like to take this oppertunity to say....If any of you feel as though your kids will not love your collections, when the time comes to pass it down....then I will gladly step in and accept them. I will even love you for a short period of time...making it feel like I am your son. So fear not!

Dog97

I'm a single parent with a 7 year old girl. She's been going to coin shows with me since she was 2 years old. When she was about 3 or 4 a guy from my club gave her a handful of stuff from his junkbox, when she was 5 or 6 rkfish gave her a bag of wheat pennies & she had a blast plugging Whitman folders, grumpy old stman gave her a toned 1897-O Morgan dollar 1 time, Askari has given her 1897 stuff, (DarkSide of course) and jester1 has sent her stuff from Poland where he lives, lordmarcoven gave her a 1697 Leopold, with a hole in it of course. PCGS sent her some awards for having several #1 1997 Registry Sets last year. So we're all trying to make a collector out of her.
Several months ago I was cooking supper and I heard a CRASH & I hollered what are you doing girl? & she said nothing daddy. Later I went in my office & I had a box with about $20k of Morgans and they were all upside & out of order. She was checking them out and dropped the box on the floor and crammed them back in & acted like nothing happened. They were in slabs so that was cool.
She's more interested in Barbie dolls though. grrrrr..........

RickMilauskas

I have two boys..ages almost 3 and 1 1/2. They both are fascinated by my coins. My oldest always says "Oh look..bee-u-tiful coins!"
He knows the difference between pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and dollars.

My youngest just likes to exclaim, "Coins!"

Who knows...in a few years I may have some "partners" to go out to the coin shows with.

Anyway...I get a nice warm feeling anythime I buy something with the intention of putting it away for them when they get older.