Protecting Your Cards From Your Children?

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Posted By: James Feagin

Do any of you fathers out there have any horror stories about your kids with your cards? I thought out this last night as my 10 month old son crawled into my den/office and proceeded to rip down by Old Cardboard poster, tear it in half and gnawed on a sizeable portion of it. My little girl (2 years) also took a 1952 Topps Bob Feller of mine and proceeded to turn an EX card to FR in 10 seconds. THAT is the reason all of my cards are slabbed now. One of her other favorite passtimes is to take my slabs and bang them together. She prefers the sound of a SGC slab to that of a PSA.

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Posted By: Anthony S.

I staple all my cards to the ceiling.

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Posted By: Bill Cornell

They're Orioles fans - lots of anxiety.



Bill

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Posted By: Eric

I store mine in grandpa's attic.

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Posted By: andy becker

teach her james!
two is a great age....i started teaching my daughter how to handle cards when she was two. somehow, she knew how much the cards meant to me and she actually listened.
she started handling the cards very carefully on their side edges, never to touch the corners.
today (she's six), she helps me organize my office....which is more like a defunct card store. my wife thinks it's cute.....i think it's cool

i have no sage wisdom for your ten month old......i'm in the same boat with a 13 month old. she's not allowed in "daddy's room" yet.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Yep...I taught my boy at a very young age how to handle my memorabilia. Before he was teachable I just kept the stuff out of reach.

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Posted By: T206Collector

...in a safety deposit box for the really valuable ones and keep all the rest on higher shelves than my boys (3 and 1) are able to climb thus far.



_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Visit http://www.t206collector.com for signed deadball card galleries, articles and more!

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Posted By: Tim

I have a 19 month old son and 12 week old son. I keep everything out of thier reach for the most part, but have been known to leave a recenlty opened mail package within reach of the 19 month old and the sound of a slab banging on a table or floor has gotten my attention a few times.

I have a big box of 87 Topps wood grains in the closet that I plan to use in the future for teaching them how to properly handle cards.

But in the end I hope to share all of my cards and the love of the hobby with them.

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Posted By: Matt

I let my 3 and 5 year olds look through my slabbed collection. They really can't do much damage unless they throw the slabs or put them in the bathtub and they like seeing the different players and poses. My 5 year old says the cards in the SGC slabs look nicer.

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Posted By: andy becker

tim is spot on.
i should have added that you should buy some modern junk just to let kids get their feet wet.

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Posted By: Jason

I got my son into card collecting. Took him to the store. Let him pick out some of his fave players.

He has an interest in vintage cards. (Something about the guy being dead that fascinates him)

I've got him a couple of reprints to see how he handled and treated them. Last weekend I gave him a couple low grade oldies and he treats them well.

I'm fortunate that he's never been the sort of kid to go through draws and areas of the house that he had no business in.

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Posted By: Paul

You should let her visit Bruce's collection. That would be funny

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Posted By: Geno

I just slabbed my kids. They can't get after much that way, and they stay in reasonably good shape. My 6-yr old was a Gem Mt 10, but he just lost a tooth and is now a Ex-Mt 6 with a qualifier...

Take Care,
Geno

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Posted By: Tim

"I'm fortunate that he's never been the sort of kid to go through draws and areas of the house that he had no business in."

Every kid does that! Either your kid(s) aren't old enough or you just haven't caught them yet.

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Posted By: DD

I'm glad my parents didn't slab me. I'd have creases for age, an MK qualifier for my tattoos, and I've been accused of being off-center more than once.

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Posted By: Fred C

I've told this story in the past and it's just as amusing now as when I first told it.

I have a few 5,000 count boxes that have cards from the 70's and 80's sorted by year and numerical order. Acouple of years ago I found a few 1984 Topps cards in my son's room. I was a little surprised because he really hasn't taken a huge interest in baseball cards. I asked him where he got the cards and he said from a box in the garage. I asked him to not mix up the cards in the boxes because they were sorted but it's fine that he took out a few cards. I found a few more cards in his room a few days later and he then told me that the gum didn't taste good. Ok, now I figured it out, he was opening up my wax packs. I kind of laughed and then asked him not to open any more.

I keep most of the valuable cards secured from the kids. I'd hate to have a one of my OJs with a penned on mustache added to the player.

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Posted By: Lance

My son is 2 and a half and has the patience of an adult. He will sit on my lap for an hour looking at the slabs and gently stacking them. He calls them "base-cards". My daughter, on the other hand, is 1 in 3 weeks and isn't quite so user friendly. She also likes the sound of plastic. I don't know if Jacob actually likes the cards or just sitting on my lap, relaxing. Either way, I'm content and it seems like a great way to eventually get him involved in the hobby.

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Posted By: JimB

My son will turn 1 year old next week. The first thing I taught him is to never touch daddy's baseball cards, his lp collection, the stereo, or his sun glasses.
JimB

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Posted By: Tim

JimB-

It's funny you mention that as I had laser surgery and splurged on a nice pair of sunglasses for myself and that's the one thing my son seems to gravitate too more than anything.

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Posted By: Marty

Do not count on slabs to protect your cards from kids. 8 months old, two minutes equals a wet card.

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Posted By: Fred C

Thank goodness that '72 Williams IA isn't a PSA8 '52 Mantle.

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Posted By: Lyman

James, have no worries. The Old Cardboard posters are printed on high-protein stock and are fat-free! --Lyman

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Posted By: Mike Ernst

This is very easy. My 4 daughters are through college and on their own, and are sports nuts. I just told them that the cards are valuable and they will inherit them some day--no worries at all about how they treat them now!

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Posted By: Marty Ogelvie

I have 4 year old twins and I have always baited them with crappy Red Sox cards.. Let 'em chew on an 1987 Buckner for a while.. makes a good teething ring.

martyOgelvie
New York Yankee cards

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Posted By: Jason L

interesting to see that even 2 year olds prefer SGC over PSA!

For me, good stuff is all at the bank.
What I do have at home is up high and beyond reach

You should see how my 6 year old stores his cards - in a jumbled mess in a tupperware container. just like I used to.
I figure I'll give him some time to be a kid...as long as it's only 1988 Donruss!

The best part is seeing how he looks at and interprets them...what's important.
he gravitates towards the team, and then position
though he is starting to care alot more about who the individual player is on the card
LOVES the team photo cards!

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Posted By: Zimp

Back in the 1970's when I was a collector my kids at that time where 2 & 3 years old. They got into my card room and started taking stacks of cards out of drawers (this was before platic pages) and just throwing them up in the air. My wife waited till I got home from work and sat me down to tell me. I raced up stairs to my room and could not see the carpet for all the cards everywhere. Complete sets of Goudeys, Play Balls, Diamond Stars ect. thrown everywhere. I was sick. It took me hours to sort all the cards. I was still missing one 1933 Goudey. I searched everywhere. I don't know how it got up there but it was in the ceiling light cover. Believe it or not I don't think any card was really damaged.

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Posted By: Fred C

I guess your wife knew what your reaction would be if she sat you down first... I wonder what she thought when she first saw the mess...