Cards and life lessons

[tiger tiger]

I have a 5 year old son and has seen my cards lying around. I give him base cards to look at, read, etc. We even do math by adding the players jersey numbers. He loves it.

We've decided that he gets a few base cards each week as 'allowance" for being a good boy, listening to us, doing his homework, and generally having a good attitude. He'll get penalized cards if he gives attitude or doesn't listen to us.

Also, if there are other cards he wants, he'll have to trade for them.

Recently, some other boys in his class have shown him Pokémon cards. Since he only has hockey cards, I said he would have to trade for them. I'm not going to make him trade with the other boys, but rather with me. (I don't think they're allowed to bring toys/belongings to school).

Derek from OT sports just informed me he has a bunch of common Pokémon cards. So on the weekend, I'm going to bring him over to let him "trade" with Derek.

Derek him a list of players that he would be interested in. My son has already gone through his 10 cards and set aside the ones that are "reserved" for Derek.

Now I have to go and figure out what this whole Pokémon phenomenon is all about. Anyone who can give me a quick crash course would be appreciated.

Also, anyone else with good lessons that could be taught through cards/the hobby?

 

[pur3strpker0]

Crash course on Pokémon cards: Can be collected or battled. Your son is probably gearing towards the collecting phase as I know I wanted Pokemon cards when I saw other kids have them on the playground!

Just like hockey cards, Pokémon cards can be a great way to improve reading, writing, and memorization skills!

PS: If you need any Pokémon cards, I still have a hefty amount from my playing days that you can have.

Kudos to you for connecting with your son through cards in various ways! A picture is worth a thousand words!

 

[tiger tiger]

Cool!! Thanks G! Let me know what you want in return.

 

[Mooche]

Man. What an awesome story.

My buddies and I used to play Pokemon on the playground religiously. It was either cards or the game boy route and we flat out loved it.

I was set on a similar path with my parents who would take me to the gaming store to buy packs of it and of course later yugioh. Yeah. You can see where the influence of busting wax came into my life....... lol.

I will dig and see if I have any left that I didnt give away.

 

[avs20]

I learned a very valuable life lesson through cards back in my early years. One night, cold one at that, mom had gone out shopping and me and dad stayed home. Dad had just put a fire in the fire place, I was busy sorting through my hockey cards next to the fireplace, being amazed at the photos and players I had, even if it was pro set, I was 6 and didn't know any better at the time. Dad asked me to pick up my cards, I never bothere to listen an after a few times asking, he got the little shovel and brush from the fireplace set, swept up the cards and tossed them in the fireplace. I learned very quickly after that to listen when I was told to pick up my stuff. Fast forward close to 20 years and I now realized one of the cards I loved as a kid from pro set that went in the fireplace that faithful night was one of the Stanley cup holos or whatever their called

 

[joshpackham]

another great skill you can teach through cards is sorting by number, will really help him learn numbers over 100, can also sort by stats on the back and what not. Also great for a geography lesson as you can get a map of north America and put push pins where all the cities are. Hope this helps

 

[Craig2]

I find that sorting sets like OPC with lots of cards in them is a great way to kids to practice number order without it seeming like learning.

 

[GoalieFan89]

I learned a very valuable life lesson through cards back in my early years. One night, cold one at that, mom had gone out shopping and me and dad stayed home. Dad had just put a fire in the fire place, I was busy sorting through my hockey cards next to the fireplace, being amazed at the photos and players I had, even if it was pro set, I was 6 and didn't know any better at the time. Dad asked me to pick up my cards, I never bothere to listen an after a few times asking, he got the little shovel and brush from the fireplace set, swept up the cards and tossed them in the fireplace. I learned very quickly after that to listen when I was told to pick up my stuff. Fast forward close to 20 years and I now realized one of the cards I loved as a kid from pro set that went in the fireplace that faithful night was one of the Stanley cup holos or whatever their called

That's painful to read!! It's cool you were able to pull one back in the day!

 

[tiger tiger]

I learned a very valuable life lesson through cards back in my early years. One night, cold one at that, mom had gone out shopping and me and dad stayed home. Dad had just put a fire in the fire place, I was busy sorting through my hockey cards next to the fireplace, being amazed at the photos and players I had, even if it was pro set, I was 6 and didn't know any better at the time. Dad asked me to pick up my cards, I never bothere to listen an after a few times asking, he got the little shovel and brush from the fireplace set, swept up the cards and tossed them in the fireplace. I learned very quickly after that to listen when I was told to pick up my stuff. Fast forward close to 20 years and I now realized one of the cards I loved as a kid from pro set that went in the fireplace that faithful night was one of the Stanley cup holos or whatever their called

Similar story happened to my buddy, except he was older and it was an argument with his dad. And he was a huge Gretzky collector...

I don't even want to know what went into the fireplace.

 

[tiger tiger]

another great skill you can teach through cards is sorting by number, will really help him learn numbers over 100, can also sort by stats on the back and what not. Also great for a geography lesson as you can get a map of north America and put push pins where all the cities are. Hope this helps

I find that sorting sets like OPC with lots of cards in them is a great way to kids to practice number order without it seeming like learning.

Cool ideas!

He already has a couple of hockey books and it has the player's weight, height, birthdate, birthplace, etc. We'll go over who's taller, heavier, who has a birthday coming up (Jordan Eberle was on the 15th! lol)

Since I grew up on OPC, making a set was the goal of collecting. I still love to sort base today. :duh:

 

[NJDEVILS30]

I used to divide my cards into groups and try to "trade" for different cards using different combinations...

I have always said that most of what I know about money and much of my knowledge around "people skills" was learned directly from hockey cards.

 

[gallinator]

another great skill you can teach through cards is sorting by number, will really help him learn numbers over 100, can also sort by stats on the back and what not. Also great for a geography lesson as you can get a map of north America and put push pins where all the cities are. Hope this helps

Love this idea - and since the NHL has such a global reach, you can do this worldwide! Too many kids and adults nowadays have no clue where places are relative to other places and/or home.

 

[Moose#11]

ahhh the Pokemon phase.i have two boys(11 & 13) who are hardcore Pokemon fanatics.they play and collect.playing the game is similar to D&D and Magic,but alot easier to play.basically Mortal Combat with imaginary creatures instead of imaginary people.at your sons age he's probably just getting into the characters now.there are different regions of the Pokemon world which have indigenous powers to the creatures from said region.there are 18 different types of Pokemon:Normal,Flying,Grass,Water,Fire,Bug,Dragon,Fairy,Rock,Ground,Steel,Psychic,Ghost,Poison,Fighting,Dark,Ice, & Electric(the boys just helped me with that!).then in each category there are varying degrees of rarity of the Pokemon.this is enhanced by the parallels of the different types of cards,much like NHL cards say in OPC Chrome.there are Holo(shiny picture),Reverse Holo(little holographic pics across the entire card front),and the EX.also different types of EX cards like Full Art(entire card has art instead of jut the little pick)and Japanese EX Promo(has Japanese writing on card front).i would get further into the different types of Legendary and Archaic types but my head hurts already.
basically,it's alot like collecting NHL cards with certain cards that are harder to get.the HP points(upper right corner)is pretty much the telltale sign whether or not it's a good Pokemon or not.the higher the HP the better the fighter(in most cases).
hope this helps a little and i'm happy to see your son getting into the collecting state of mind.it's a good hobby for bonding and the social structure of my sons friends is great when they get together and play.really a nice group of kids that have alot of fun without the need for electronic stimulus.enjoy!

 

[tiger tiger]

A couple of unexpected lessons that came up recently.

I took my son to OT sportscards to trade for some Pokemon cards. He picked out 10 of them, but only had 7 of the players Derek asked for. My son had set aside a few cards he wanted to keep. One being a 14-15 Crosby base card. Derek offered the extra 3 Pokemon cards if my son threw in the Crosby.

My son looked at me and asked if we had another one. I said that I didn't know, maybe not, so you have to decide what you really want and if you think it's worth it. He went for it. We found another Crosby base later, which he earned by doing more math/reading worksheets. That one has gone into his "no trade" top loader.


The 2nd lesson is about sharing. I also have a twin boy and girl, turning 3 in a few weeks. Sometimes my 2 sons fight over stuff. My older one has been taught not to get into a tug-a-war with his little brother, and to ask to have it politely. But of course, my younger son sometimes isn't so accommodating.

So I told my older son, you need to "trade" with you younger brother. Offer something that you know your younger brother would like to play with. My older son tries it and it works like a charm. My younger son gives up all the things he's holding for the "trade bait".

 

[FrankToronto]

These are some great stories!

 

[tiger tiger]

I'm almost out of Pokemon cards.

I have my son doing math worksheets (1 card for each worksheet ABOVE his grade level, 2 if it's 2 grades above). When there's an incentive, he gets pretty excited about doing work. lol.

Anyone locally can help me with base? Got my friend's daughter on the same program now, but she's doing it with reading. lol. So even the female characters are good.

 

[FrozenInferno]

I'm almost out of Pokemon cards.

I have my son doing math worksheets (1 card for each worksheet ABOVE his grade level, 2 if it's 2 grades above). When there's an incentive, he gets pretty excited about doing work. lol.

Anyone locally can help me with base? Got my friend's daughter on the same program now, but she's doing it with reading. lol. So even the female characters are good.

PM me your address.

 

[pur3strpker0]

Dave,

I can supply commons if you still need them. I'll even throw in a few rarer holo foil cards.

Can drop them off at Derek's if that's most convenient.

Please do PM me.

-Gordon

 

[timber09]

My daughter has a few friends that love to trade the Pokemon cards. I did a similar thing a few years back and bought a box of commons from the local store for like $20 (truth be told, I think he gave us a screaming deal on them) and gave them out to both her and her friend when they were playing together.

Now my daughter is eleven. She still plays with the Pokemons but only with a few friends and doesn't seem to care much about them while home looking for stuff to do.

I have probably 40k or more inserts/parallels/SPs/etc that are all ready for quarter bins and what not - she has been helping me sort these out, some are getting listed on SportLots and some are staying in the quarter bins. We have a good time making fun of players hair, names, etc - maybe not the greatest life lesson but we have fun and she gets to make a little bit of money for the effort.

 

[djsports]

I learned a very valuable life lesson through cards back in my early years. One night, cold one at that, mom had gone out shopping and me and dad stayed home. Dad had just put a fire in the fire place, I was busy sorting through my hockey cards next to the fireplace, being amazed at the photos and players I had, even if it was pro set, I was 6 and didn't know any better at the time. Dad asked me to pick up my cards, I never bothere to listen an after a few times asking, he got the little shovel and brush from the fireplace set, swept up the cards and tossed them in the fireplace. I learned very quickly after that to listen when I was told to pick up my stuff. Fast forward close to 20 years and I now realized one of the cards I loved as a kid from pro set that went in the fireplace that faithful night was one of the Stanley cup holos or whatever their called

I don't have kids so I have to live through my friends and family members kiddos so I do enjoy being the cousin/uncle that can get the kids fired up and hand them back to the parents.

About 18 months ago my cousins came out for my dads memorial and it was a scene out of Christmas Vacation. 10 people in a RV parked in front of my house. Two of the 10 people were my cousin's children. They are at the age when I started collecting so I thought it would be cool to show them my things and try to get them started collecting. I gave my cousin a box of Pokemon stickers (30/10) to be used as a reward when her kids behaved. They loved it, for about three weeks. After three weeks the effect wore off because Corbin pulled/traded for all the stickers he wanted and Izzy was left without a trading partner.

Getting back to the quoted post.

UGH that is painful to read. What I am about to say is in no way intended to be aimed at you since you are still active in the hobby and legitimately knew what you had growing up, but in my dealing with people who collected during the junk wax era, the Pro Set Holograms are now the new 52 Mantles.

Whenever I travel to a place where I have to rely on other people for transportation (Taxi, Uber, Lyft ect) the driver will always ask, "What do you do for a living?" and no matter who I'm traveling with, my profession always gets the most questions. I could have Putin sitting next to me and I will field the most questions about what I do. We were in Italy in 2012 for our honeymoon and we had four people in the car, one worked for DOD, another worked for the CIA, my wife who has a doctorate in immunology was with me (of course) and myself. The driver asked me questions for 30 minutes AND he was driving me around to places where I could get Panini Stickers.

The most asked question is always "You can make a living doing that?" The follow up to that is almost always, "Boy if I still had my cards from when I was a kid....". Depending on the age of the driver, I can predict 99% of the time what he will say. If it is a male over the age of 50 it was always the 52 Topps Mantle and if it is a male over the age of 30 it is ALWAYS a Pro Set Hologram. The last 30 people I have shared a ride with have all had a Pro Set Hologram. Knowing how hard these things are to pull, finally pulling one 23 years after the first box of Pro Set I purchased, I think that they are confusing the Pro Set Holo with the Upper Deck Holograms.

On the rare occasion that they say they still have their cards, I hand them my business card and offer them $300.00 for the Stanley Cup Hologram if they still have it. I'll update this thread once I have to pony up the $300.00 for that card.