Rocks, bottle caps, sports cards, shells, comic books, marbles, matchbox cars, coins, stamps, dolls, posters, buttons, pins, stickers, autographs, hats, post cards, model planes, butterflies, and so on.

Almost any item that isn’t nailed down or too heavy to lift is a candidate for collecting. Just about everyone, at some time in life, has collected something. The phenomenon is strange if you think about it. The activity basically involves finding the items, organizing them, counting them, storing them away, looking for more, and then doing it all again—and again, and again. The activity is often addictive, and it never has an end. So . . . why?

Could the caveman’s hunt-and-store instinct still be with us? Is collecting merely a healthy outlet for a long obsolete drive? If so, then we have been duped, and should probably discourage collecting in our children, so eventually the evolution of it will phase out. Right? Wrong!
Too many valuable benefits are byproducts of collecting, and besides, who are we to play God?

Here are some of the profits your children can collect:

1. They find a focus of their boundless energies that could have been channeled less constructively.
2. They are given a very simple and basic challenge (rocks, stamps, shells, and such), whereby a child can succeed.
3. They earn a feeling of pride.
4. They create a characteristic that sets them apart from others.
5. They find a means to interact with and make friends.
6. They receive a lesson in negotiating and compromising, when trading such as with baseball cards or stamps.
7. They learn a lesson in counting. (“I have 53 rocks now!”)
8. They get a lesson in categorizing and organizing.
9. They have a reason to take care of, and appreciate, a possession.

You will reap a benefit too. Someday, because you encouraged them to start a collection, they will accumulate, then auction off a valuable one. Out of appreciation, they will give you the proceeds so you can retire. (Right.)

Rex Bowlby is the father of two boys. He is the author of the book, Why Would I Want the Toy, When I Can Have the Box? (101 Ways to Make the Most of Your Children, With the Least from Your Wallet*) *For parents with children ages 3-8. He lives in Los Angeles, California, USA.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, August 13th, 2006 at 2:26 pm and is filed under 03-05 yrs: Preschooler, 05-12 yrs: Schooler, Crafts and Activities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.