Camping with the Mediocre Dad

Camping tips, tricks and advice from a fairly average parent and a reformed dad blogger

Menu
  • Home
  • About
  • Camping
  • Family Days Out
  • Sponsorship
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Why celebrate mediocrity?
Menu

Fatherhood²: Time to Admit to my Shameful Addiction

Posted on June 8, 2014January 7, 2018 by Henry Elliss

photo 2My name is Henry and I have a worrying addiction – and now that I seem to have passed it on to my children, it’s time to come clean.

It’s not really surprising that my children have developed my addiction as well – I first developed my own habit when I was about their age. At the age of 5 or 6, my addiction was mostly fed by my parents or occasionally (if pocket money would allow) by my own means.

The worst part about this particular habit is that it virtually encourages you to share it with friends – it’s a total ‘social drug’ and I’ve proved this several times. Today I even considered sharing my habit with our new next door neighbour, when I realised he might be suffering from the same addiction.

And when my youngest, Freddie, burst in to tears because of our shared addiction this evening, I decided it was time to come clean.

Yes, I am addicted to a shameful thing: Sticker collections.

photo 4Wow, I feel better already. Admitting it really is the first step, isn’t it?

My addiction is currently manifesting itself with the Panini World Cup sticker collection – though to be fair to me, my wife actually instigated this particular collection, when she bought an album for the kids along with a massive pile of sticker packs.

But what was meant for the kids soon got me back into my shameful ways, and within a week I have my own album (mainly so that I can stick all the stickers in straight – something which my children haven’t quite mastered yet!) which I am populating with their swaps.

I can vividly remember the sticker albums of my own childhood – if I remember correctly, E.T. was the first movie tie-in album I had (though it could well have been Star Wars) and it was swiftly followed by several ‘The Simpsons’ collections in the next few years.

They often say that one drug is just a gateway for another, and it was no less true for me – in my case, stickers were a gateway to trading cards in my teens. I still have them all today (tirelessly catalogued in special collector pockets and folders) and a few of them are actually worth a few quid. So it’s not all bad!

Robert got his first sticker album when he was 2 or 3 – so far he has collected albums for Toy Story and Cars (x2) and is now well into his World Cup album.

Poor Freddie is feeling the pain of addiction too. To his credit, he’s not that bothered by the stickers themselves, but give him a ‘shiny’ and he’ll go mental. Or more accurately, don’t give him a shiny and he’ll pout like an Oscar-winner. So much so that I actually opened 5 different packets this evening in search of a shiny to surprise him with – check out that smile and tell me it wasn’t worth it! :)

photo 1
I’m not even going to think about how much money we’ve spent on stickers so far – Sara heard somebody say that you’d need to spend well over £100 to complete the 600+ slots in the World Cup album. But there’s definitely one upside to it…

…I’m going to know what every single player looks like when the Cup starts next week!

Now, who’s up for swaps?

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Email
  • WhatsApp
  • Print
  • albums
  • collection
  • football
  • panini
  • sticker
  • trading cards
  • world cup
  • 1 thought on “Fatherhood²: Time to Admit to my Shameful Addiction”

    1. Darrell - modernfatheronline.c says:
      June 8, 2014 at 9:10 pm

      Out largest supermarket in Australia has been supplying collector cards for 3 different things over the last 18 months or so. It’s been a great marketing ploy by them as every parent on social media assists their kids by tracking down the missing cards and notifying everyone of their friends of their swaps.

      It’s so different from 30 years ago when I used to trade football cards in the playground at school.

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    henweb

    henweb

    Pun-loving, 👨‍👦‍👦 dad-blogging, 📷 photo-taking, 🏰 Lego-making, 🎅🏿 beard-wearing, 👶 child-caring dad of 2. 💍 Husband of 1. 💩 Strategist

    View Full Profile →

    Instagram Gallery

    A few photos from my slightly hair-raising morning A few photos from my slightly hair-raising morning walk. Some lovely sunrises, lots of ice on the canal and a couple of rivers and lakes that were quickly merging together, at the expense of the newly-laid track. At least my wellies stayed strong!
    Instagram post 18021846115464989 Instagram post 18021846115464989
    A photo from my Thursday morning walk. One good th A photo from my Thursday morning walk. One good thing to come from this week’s rail strikes (and the subsequent week WFH) was my daily sunrise walks - something I really miss when I have to go into London. Fingers crossed that 2023 allows for a few more of them.
    Merry Christmas, instagram family and friends. Ple Merry Christmas, instagram family and friends. Please enjoy this photo of our beautiful but low-key Christmas decorations, hung in the splendor of our delightful Tudor home.
    Good morning from Somerset #NoFilter Good morning from Somerset #NoFilter
    Lovely moonrise this morning 😍 Lovely moonrise this morning 😍
    Load More… Follow on Instagram

    A little ad for some stuff




    Subscribe by RSS

    RSS Feed RSS – Posts

    Recent posts

    • 5 Tips to Make Family Travel Easier December 2, 2022
    • 5 Great Camping Blogs You Should Follow August 18, 2022
    • Summer Holidays in the Mountains? 4 Reasons Why You Should Go for it! June 7, 2022
    • Family Camping for Beginners – A Guide to Buying a New Tent May 31, 2022
    • The Best New Beauty Treatments to Prepare for Summer May 31, 2022

    A bigger ad for some stuff

    Recent Comments

    • Family Camping for Beginners - The Ultimate Guide for first time campers | Camping with the Mediocre Dad on Family Camping for beginners – Food, glorious food
    • Tiana on Fatherhood²: The Ultimate Octonauts Quiz
    • The best camping gadgets for your next trip with the family | The Mediocre Dad on Family Camping for Beginners – The Ultimate Guide for first time campers
    • Dynamite dad blogs | Samuel Windsor on Family Camping for Beginners – The Ultimate Guide for first time campers
    • Family Camping for Beginners - The Ultimate Guide for first time campers | The Mediocre Dad on Family Camping for beginners – Camping with Babies & Toddlers

    My Brimpton Village history website

    My Mastodon profile

    © 2023 Camping with the Mediocre Dad | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme
    Find me on Mastodon