New cards or old cards, it is a great opportunity to spend quality time with your children.
In 1997, my then almost 7YO was behind in reading, in part because he liked to be read to every night rather than read himself, but I noticed that he was trying to read baeball cards that Santa had left him in his stocking. Putting 2 and 2 together, I decided that if this was what he would try to read, than I better get some cards. The next day I stopped in Kmart and picked up a box of '87 Topps, and that night we opened a pack. If he read the front of the card, name, team and postion, and then read something off of the back of the card, then he would get the card.
We started doing a pack a night and then my 3YO wanted to get in on it, so if he read all of the letters off of the front then he would get the card.
A year later, the 7YO went from being behind in reading to being held out as an examplary reader in school and the 3YO knew his alphabet and was reading already.
Oh, and we all became hooked on cards too!
The younger son (16YO now) is still into collecting and loves going to shows with me. He has a big Pettitte collection.
More recently he has taken a real liking to some of the current retro sets like the Topps 206, and the Upper Deck Goodwin Champions.
We're headed to our first National this year, and although I only have a couple of prewar cards now, I am pretty sure that we will each leave Baltimore with at least a couple, in addition to the few (or several) fresh Ripken atuographs that I'll be leaving with.
It's been a great ride for the last 13 years, and based on my experience, I'll offer the following tips:
1. When the kids are young, don't hand them anything that would bother you if you never saw it again. They'll learn how to handle and care for cards, but don't forget that they are young kids, and sometimes kids do really stupid things. It's part of growing up.
2. Let the kids decide what interests them, whether it be old cards or sparkly new ones, sets or just cards of a partciluar player or team. There is no wrong way to collect.
3. If you take them to a card show, by all means keep your eye on them, but don't keep them on too short of a leash. You will see them start develop and interact with dealers on their own. And when a dealer spends time with them, remember to thank them and at least look to see if the dealeer has anything that may interest you too.
3. Enjoy the time that you spend together in the hobby. It is great that parents and children can still do some things together that they both love.
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