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Children and Collecting.

Collecting bugs, rocks, leaves, baseball cards, stamps, coins, or who-knows-what is a

Come we now to that part of the year called "Back to School."  I am a 
sometimes teacher, and though most of my teaching has been inflicted on 
adults, I have also taught high school.  So it seems to me that I might do 
well to write about children and collecting from a viewpoint of a teacher.   
I have no kids of my own -and I'm not at all sure this is a handicap.  I 
have a more global view of the subject, I think.   

For example, are you the parent of a nascent collector who has brought home every repellent little 
bug he or she can find and let them loose in the house?  Or are you -as I am- an uncle who has things and ideas to share with a nephew or niece -and 
my sisters get to deal with the fall out.  Or are you a parent who has a beloved collection of X and hope to share your love of the subject with your 
kids?  For that matter, is your child young enough to feel your enthusiasm & joy, or is he or she reached the age where-upon collecting X is "like.... 
totally tired -f'r sure  -I mean, like.... how gay."  (No opinions on 'gay' -but I learn from one of my nieces that 'gay' is not necessarily an insult, 
but refers to something well outside of the universe of the speaker.  In my day -or perhaps a little earlier -we would have used the word 'square.')

Here I flagrantly plagiarize my own-dang-self by lifting from my article on 
Last Minute Gifts for the Collector AND the Child Collector in your Life.

	We teacher-types do all sorts of things to get our students motivated / 
	prepared / willing / awake enough etc. to learn. Collecting is a wonderful 
	-pain-free way to do this.

	Consider, for example, stamp collecting and geography. A child who has 
	somehow gotten a stamp from Timbuktu just has to wonder where Timbuktu is. 
	If there a gazetteer and / or a big map of the world somewhere in the home, 
	education HAS to follow.  One small word of caution though, there is a fine 
	line between helping a child learn and irritating the little dear beyond all 
	tolerance. You don't need to be an expert in a given subject or collectable 
	to teach your kids. Let them follow their own interests.

So how do you use collecting to awaken curiosity and avoid making what ever 
ensues a battle of wills to get the child to clean-up every day and follow 
through over the long term?  And --perhaps, just perhaps-- carry a childhood 
whim on into adulthood.? (F'rinstance, a chap by the name of Greg Martin had 
a thing for guns as a young lad and built it into a wonderful and successful 
business called Greg Martin Auctions. Beautiful web-site too!  If you like guns -or anything beautifully made, check it out.)

Well, you start at the end.  You ask yourself where you want the kid to 
end-up.  In education jargon, this is called TSWBAT (pronounced twîz bât) 
and lists what The Student Will Be Able To....  Not a bad idea this. Starting 
at the end is the basis of most planning efforts, but the value
here has to do with opening your thinking.  For example, it would be all 
well and good to take the above example of stamp collecting and have a goal 
of "teaching geography".  But it would be better to say to yourself, "Little 
Johnny will get a stamp & envelope that has been mailed from each of the 50 states and he 
will be able to find all 50 of 'em on the map by the start of school next fall."  
(Have you seen The Tonight Show when Jay Leno goes Jay-Walking and asks 
people on the sidewalk where Europe is and someone guesses it's the capitol 
of Canada?  Makes me a little embarrassed to admit to being a teacher.)

Now when they tried to teach me this planning stuff in various b'ness 
classes I had to take, I seem to remember that after defining where we want 
to be when we are there, the next step involved something about listing the 
where-with-all to get to the goal.  Seems reasonable.  What is perhaps just 
a little unreasonable, however, is the amount of where-with-all a child 
insists he or she needs to get the job done.  But then again, perhaps not.  
Please remember, thought, that childhood is about trying out a bunch of 
stuff, and setting aside some or perhaps most of it in favor of their 
passions.

Hate to say it, but sometimes the best way to support a child's efforts 
probably involves a little effort and a little --but perhaps very little-- 
money.  Here are some The Student Will Be Able To's and the where-with-all 
you might need to assemble.

 From a customer who says it so much better then I do.....

Finally, I have to spend a few words on using the internet to help kids 
collect, learn, and have fun.  Generally, I find it is much overrated as an 
educational tool.  Oftentimes, kids use and understand the internet far better then 
most of their parents.   Non-the-less, there are valuable things.  Google 
ANY collectable item and you will get a million hits, including the national 
society for collectors of that item.  Most of these associations offer 
much-o information and educational resources.  The Smithsonian Institute has 
some excellent information about Kids and Collecting.   

Additionally, you might find the following search words helpful to do an up-to-date search on 
Google:
+education +collecting +children -data

© 2006 Bill Harvey

I'd like to take credit for this article, but I can't.  It's from a wonderful site about doing stuff with your kids.  And I mean things kids actually might WANT to do!   If you have kids, or have any dealings with kids, or know how to spell KIDS, you must check out Dad-Can-Do.

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