Suggestions for a Dad and his young son.

[Abravefan11]

I have two young sons one three and a half and the other two.

My oldest loves books and anything that his Dad has an interest in. Yesterday he found my REA catalog that I had left out from this past weekend and spent 30 minutes looking through it and asking me questions about different pictures as he flipped through the pages. I also had a stack of five T206's that I had just received in the mail that he examined before telling me "Daddy I want some cards like yours."

This got me to thinking that if he's interested it wouldn't be a bad idea to buy him a card or two.

I've never thought about trying to complete "The Monster" but given his age it might not be a bad place to start a low grade set.

My question is with these circumstances where would you start?

[packs]

You could show him some pictures of the cards in the set and let him pick a couple he likes based on the images.

[Abravefan11]

Originally Posted by packs

You could show him some pictures of the cards in the set and let him pick a couple he likes based on the images.

Packs -

I did that and he said he wanted a card with a player with a bat.

My question is would you start on The Monster with him or something else?

Given his age and to keep him focused T206 might not be a bad idea. Who knows by the time he's a teenager he could be well into the hobby or lose interest and want a car and we could sell his set.

Or should I try and put together a simpler set for him for the time being?

[teetwoohsix]

Hi Tim,

Maybe try a couple of raw low grade beaters of commons,and see how he treats them,and if he keeps or loses interest.If he keeps interest,maybe pick up V/G graded T206's and see if he likes the idea of the plastic holder (would of course be safer on the card ).........you know kids can be rough on things,and I guess this is where the slab makes sense!!!

Hope you're doing well Tim!!!Always great to see you posting!!

Sincerely,Clayton

Let me know,I think I have a raw beater I can send you so you can test the waters

[FUBAR]

My suggestion would be for you to start the set and have him complete it when he gets old enough to understand. At his age, he is going to want to be hands on so maybe look at getting a few common t206 reprints for him and keep the real ones until he is ready

[M's_Fan]

I've often thought about how I could get my son into collecting one day (he's 3 and a half now).

The problem with starting the Monster is that it would be very frustrating for a kid, he could obviously never complete it until much older (and much much wealthier).

So you have to think subsets, and you could build from there. I would pick the major league team that your kid likes, and get him started on a low grade team set from the city of your son's favorite team. This is low cost, achievable in the short term, and gives a connection to modern baseball, all of which are kid friendly approaches.

Unfortunately there is no Seattle team in the T206 set, so I'll have to do T212's for my son, but I already started a 1911 T212 Seattle team set years ago and it hasn't made much progress, those cards being hard to come by (PM me if any of you have any!).

If your son is also a Braves fan, you have a similar problem as me, because the Atlanta cards are few and expensive as they are southern leaguers. So you might have to pick a different subset he might be interested in. I think the key is to pick a goal that is challenging but not too hard so they lose interest.

You might do some research to see if there is another set out there with Atlanta players that isn't as expensive. What was the first year of the Braves?

Good luck!

[irishdenny]

What an idea and more so... inspiration!

i have a 7 year old who absolutly Loves Baseball. i'm gonna start him on a history adventure of the Players, teams, leagues, etc...

Beaters, Low Grade slabs, and any good deal out there to get him started.

i think i'll even throw in a T200 every now and then just for real life pictorials of the Teams with players.

Very cool... 2-3 beaters a month, a T200 when feasible/possible kind of thing! Throw in 1-2 for B~days & Christmas, Man this is such a Grand Idea!!!

Noah(Thats my Son) will love this idea!!! Plus his 6 year old brother Gabriel Loves to be involved and can be a great asset as fir drive. Gabe just has to be involved.

shhhh ~ and if falls of the Monster Wagon, i'll be there to pic'em uP

[DICKTOWLE]

Does anyone know who bought the 4 sets that were scotch tape:d on paper

[timzcardz]

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.

[deadballera]

my 10 year old knows about the T206 Wagner. He wants some of the T206 cards that I have. I like the idea of getting some beater cards for him.

I already have given him some of the Horrors of War cards that he also liked....

[nebboy]

My almost 4 yr old likes Dads cards to so I was thinking the same as others here. To start a set that him and I could put together over the next 10 years. I also didn't want to go with T206 set knowing I would never finish it. It important that the set I choose could be completed. While still having college money.

So Im going with T205

[scottglevy]

Get him a few beaters for the vintage sets you like (e.g. T205 / T206 etc). But also get him a whole bunch of older common cards like from the 70s or 80s - that are basically worthless but that he can flip, put in the spokes of his bicycle, etc. Let him tell you what he likes by exposing him to a whole bunch of different options and sets.

And most importantly enjoy the time it is brings you and your son together.

My dad and I started this way about 25 years ago. He helped my put together early 1980s topps sets and ended up getting sucked into the monster himself. Then I followed as soon as I was in my teens.

-Scott