Collecting is a self-directed activity about passion. In our world of (sometimes overly) scheduled activities, the meandering, self-directed, self-motivated journey of collecting is quite foreign to many -- including children. They go from school, to organized activity to another organized activity. Even video games have pretty rigid rules (at least if you want to win!). And so the free-wheeling dealings (free-stylin’, as the American Pickers say) of collecting can seem incredibly foreign to many.
It's rather a shame, as kids, including special needs kids, can learn a lot from collecting -- everything from how to handle money to becoming becoming self-starters, and even create more nerds (and the world needs more nerds!).
To help parents and others encourage children to collect, I've written Ten Ways To Encourage Kids To Collect.
