General Forum

I am going to be having my first child in roughly a month, and a curiosity popped in my head regarding how collectors go about collecting trading cards when they have children.  Considering I have always been interested in basketball and baseball cards, and if my son is anything like me, he will probably be interested in collecting trading cards as well.

Do you have them start a seperate collection of their own, or do you think it's best to share one collection?  I say this because I am pretty OCD about my collection, but would never want my son to feel bad by me not "sharing" and having him start his own collection.

Curious as to how people with more experience than me have gone about this.

I collect Topps baseball only and although my kids enjoyed looking at the cards, they never had as much pleasure in the collecting.  That being said, I would still try and put together a set each year but would also purchase a factory set.  Kids were born in 92 and 94, and I pretty much stopped the intense collecting in 96, and picked it up again last year now that college is done.  When I am gone, there will be a set each if they are wanted or someone will be able to pick up a nice collection soon after.

Jeff

Let them start their own. And I let the two that showed any interest choose their own favorite teams. Between the three of us we all collect different teams. This works out great when we open packs, we give each other what they collect.

I gave each of them a "starter pack" if they wanted to ever collect, but only one has followed through with it.  He really only collects football and roots for a different team than I do, so at the very least, it makes it easy to, like C2 said, swap out with each other when we buy a blaster or goes to shows.

With grandchild # 1 on its way, have given this a bit of thought over the past year since my daughter got married. Luckily my son in law collects too , so should be a no-brainer that collecting is in the blood.. my kids never got interested in it and I didn't force it on them... As a small wedding gift to my son in law , I bought him 2 Roger Clemens graded rookie cards, and when I gave them to him I explained that one was his , and the others was to be the first card given to his child to start off their collection. I say most certainly that kids should have a collection of their own to appreciate, because now every time they come to see grandpa , I'll be sending them home with a card or 2.. looking forward to those days.

(Robert Getting On Soap Box)

This what I am Doing.  I was born in 1956,  got the collecting bug in late 1964.  I started then and every year up to late 70's. (Ugly Cards) Got back into it in 1979 and since then.  In 1981 founf a card store and started working on sets from 1964 and back.  Prize pick-up a Ty Cobb T-206. (vg-ex $75.00)  Did this until a major change when-. I got married in 1990 so I cut back to only TOPPS.

    Advance some years, Divorce and remarried, Needed to stop in 2007 as I had my 1st son.  I did pick up factory sets, Then another son came along in 2010. This changed my goals Instead of needing one set I needed 2 sets.  One for each to pass on.  One I buy whole, The other I put together by packs.

       As of today my oldest who is severly Autistic only likes Thomas the Tank Engine. And boy can he lay out the track in ways I never thought of.  The youngest one is into Spiderman and Batman.  He has time, I got the bug when 8 so i giving him time. If anything I leaving a Legacy.  

     Give him time, do not force it or take time away from him to be with cards, Let him touch, hold,  feel,  the cards. and Goosh yes  play flip 'em, and Topsy (topsie) . . You said they were his. 

Now if I find some Batman cards I sure I got thier attention for 5 minutes.

Robert

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Interesting thread.  I think start out go with separate and give them something to call their own(but maybe enjoy the experience with them). After a short while, i'm guessing you will be able to tell if collecting is something that interests them. Then can figure out what to do or handle future purchases/collections acquired.  

My son is right about the same age I was when I started collecting cards, so I thought I'd see if he'd want to start one.  He's not much into sports as of now but does love Star Wars.  I took him to Target and we bought a couple wax boxes of Star Wars cards, printed out the check list from the database here and we got to opening!!   He had a great time opening the packs, looking at and reading the cards and putting them in order in the plastic pages, etc.  (shameless plug, he's missing a few which show on my wantlist if you have them to trade!!!). I'm thinking we will try to complete that set with him and maybe try another one he'd be interested in and see where it goes from there.  

Like much of parenting as I have found out, I don't  know if it's the best approach but the one I'm trying!!!

My boys have their own collection.  They are free to bend them, write on them, sticker all over them, whatever makes them happy, like I did when I was their age (6 and 8). 

I am working on some of the same issues with my own children. I agree you have to be careful not to force it on them but each of my kids has shown interest in some ways.

I gave my 10 year old daughter a set of WNBA cards which she liked quite a bit. She put them in a binder and looks at them occasionally. Recently she told me she wanted some baseball cards because she wanted to learn how to sort cards by team. I gave her an extra set of 1990 Donruss baseball and she gets it out occasionally and has been sorting them out. Who knows what will come of it. 

My 7 year old son has been much more interested. A year ago I bought some wax packs on ebay and we opened a couple packs per night. They were late 80s cards so I would tell him about the positions and things I remember about the players on the cards. It actually got him interested in playing baseball which he did for the first time last summer. I think it is best to let them have their own just so I don't stress about what they do with them. We finished a couple of sets from packs and he put them in binders. He gets them out occasionally. For Christmas I gave him a box of 2015 baseball stickers and a box of 2013 Panini Triple Play cards. He loved putting the stickers in his book and really loves the panini cards. They have a game on the back that we made up rules for and it simulates a baseball game. He plays with those all the time. Great thing is they were so cheap and he can do whatever he wants with them. He likes to help me sort and organize my cards.

My 4 year old really hasn't shown much interest up until now but just the other day he told me he wants to get some star wars cards so maybe I'll see if that gets him into it.

The key for me is that if I can get them interested it is a much easier process having my wife happy about the amount of time / money I spend on the collection.

Obviously I am or was a card nut else I wouldn't be here.   My 2 sons did not pick up my interest in sports.   They played baseball, soccer, roller hockey.   They were not interested in sports cards.   But they did enjoy colleting Marvel cards, GI Joe cards,Simpsons,  Star Wars ,etc.......Everything but sports.    Let kids do their own thing.   Also save some old cards in poor condition to put into the spokes of their bikes.    That they will remember 30 years down the road.   Best of luck