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A story for those with young ones

I thought I'd share a story that's been an early highlight of this year and my life.

I introduced my 5 year old to cards a little over a year ago, by letting him choose and rip a pack of 75 mini. He dug it. Liked putting cards in sleeves and sheets and I gave him a bunch of other junk wax to rip. He was still a little young and kinda burned out on it. But some of you were so generous in sending the occasional gift to him...and he loves mail...that it would be reignited every now and again. In some ways you guys had more influence than I.

When he did TeeBall last season, I would give packs to the kids after games. Many dug it and the parents did too. With the help of this board..again (what a group)...I was able to give each kid a binder at year end with HOFers that wore each of their respective numbers.

Fast forward to football season. My boy started kindergarten and vocabulary and knowledge retention became exponential. He got into my Sunday football routine of early up (west coast), a trip to donut shop, and football watchin' couch chillin'. Noticed that he was starting to pick up player names, teams, etc. and was constantly asking questions.

So with a D&A Black Friday special I grabbed him a 2012-13 Panini Sticker Book and box of stickers for a Christmas present, unsure of what he'd think. It was a hit. He ripped through the first box, stuck his stickers. Set aside doubles. Learned things like Super Star and Hall of Famer. Knew every logo. Counted how many he needed. It was nuts. I bought 2 more boxes, and he's 48 stickers from the set. It was the first thing he'd do every morning, rip a few packs and the last thing at night. It melted my heart to see his enthusiasm at getting one he needed and I had to laugh at his disappointment in getting doubles..."dad...another double"

Anyway, it was far more engaging to him at this age to do stickers where dad's not over his should telling him to be careful, than the cards were. So I've already got a hockey sticker book and will be ordering baseball shortly.

For anyone with young kids, I think these sticker books are gold. Also think the way it's engaged him has helped him excel at school as well...though I can't prove it...and it's greatly changed the conversations we have.

I hope this translates over the long term and there's still hope that someone will covet our collections in the years to come.

I told him if he wanted me to look into trades for him he'd need to make me a list...and he's excited to trade, not sure how successful we'll be since it's not really anyone's cup of tea to my knowledge, but we'll see. It was still great to see him put in the work of a set builder.
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Sorry for long post but had to share since I know there's a group of us with young ones.

I'll also be adding his need list to BST in hopes that we can help him complete his first set.
52-90 All Sports, Mostly Topps, Mostly HOF, and some assorted wax.

Comments

  • EagleEyeKidEagleEyeKid Posts: 4,496 ✭✭
    Very sweet story. Thanks for the read.
  • MantleFan23MantleFan23 Posts: 686 ✭✭✭✭
    That is a great story!! My wife and I are expecting this year, and I am looking forward to sharing my love for cards with him/her when they get older. I like how it has built on your father/son relationship and how excited he is to work on the sticker project and giving you a list of ones that he needs or doubles that he has!!

    Jeremy
  • frankhardyfrankhardy Posts: 8,040 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Great story. My 14 year old is involved a little bit, but not like I wish he was. We still have a good time with it.

    Shane

  • jjwormjjworm Posts: 196 ✭✭
    My girls are 4 and 7 and I have tried to get them interested in cards but no such luck. Neither of them play any sport which involves a ball. They like my other hobby though...model railroading. Driving the trains around and blowing the horns is so much more exciting in their world.

    OP - thanks for sharing your story

    Collecting:

    - Post War baseball HOF RC's
    - 1980's unopened baseball
    - All Mutoscope and American Beauties

  • fur72fur72 Posts: 2,348 ✭✭
    That checklist is a thing of beauty! Frame that thing! image
  • That checklist is a thing of beauty! Frame that thing!

    I agree. That made me laugh.
  • baz518baz518 Posts: 1,231 ✭✭✭✭
    Love the story. I've got boys that are 6 and 3 (and a 2yo girl) that I started on a similar path, but with non-sport. Bought boxes and boxes of Toy Story/Monster Inc/Cars/Nemo Panini stickers and albums. They're both into cards now.... still non-sport. Tons of TMNT, Mario Bros., Popeye.... but thats what they like. They love ripping packs and collecting the sets as we put them in binder pages. My oldest did write a letter to Steve for the stocking stuffer thing @ BBCE this year and was very excited (couple modern packs and cards of Rizzo, Castro, and a LeBron RC). I think they'll transition into sports cards fairly well, especially as they learn more and more about the players and teams.
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