Your Parenting Info

Something every child should have is a collection. Collections are fun, and they are a great way to reflect on some memories or just to have relics from the past. It’s best to start a collection as soon as you can. I know I wish I had a couple more things from earlier years. The question is, what can you collect? Some things seem like a good idea but can turn into a hassle as the year go by. My sister is living proof of that.

When she was little, she loved giraffes. Every Christmas, every birthday, every trip, she would get a giraffe, and pretty soon they started to build up. She has a glass case in her room where she keeps some of the more fragile ones, and she surrounds it by all of the stuffed animal ones that she has received; she calls it her “giraffe shrine.” The problem is my sister doesn’t know what to do with all the giraffes as the situation is getting a little bit out of hand. Her friends know about the “shrine”, and what-do-you-know, the next gift she receives from one of them is another giraffe! It’s not a very sensible collection because even though she loves giraffes, they take up a lot of room, and they can cost a considerable amount compared to other collectibles. What will she do with all of them when she goes to college and beyond?

There is one collection that she is glad she has. She’s a runner, and ever since she started racing, she has kept her race numbers (the piece of paper you wear when you’re racing) after the race. So now she has a stack of race numbers that can remind her of all the races she has done, but they don’t cost her any extra and don’t take up much space: a smart collection.

I used to wish that I had collected the tops of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream because they look creative and could be displayed uniquely, but I felt like it was too late to start.  Easy ideas for collection could be newspapers (perhaps from your child’s birthday every year), or coins (just think, you’ll actually be saving money!), or maybe even the fortunes from fortune cookies you’ve eaten. If you want help your child collect something, make sure you think about what the result will be. After all, how many teddy bears do you really want to see around your house?