What Your Childhood Collection Says About You Now

There’s a kind of chicken-and-egg situation with kids and the things they collect: which came first, the savvily-marketed toy series or the desire to hoard up multiple forms of the same thing? Either way, having a collection was a necessary part of childhood. Options for collections vary—if there’s more than one of it, it can be collected—but the ones you chose say a lot about your personality.

Beanie Babies

Nothing could beat the feeling of finding a new Beanie Baby you truly loved. You’d make sure the tag was perfectly safe inside a plastic protector before throwing the new lion, bear, or bird into the already overflowing pile of toy animals stuffed with… beans? Whatever. It didn’t matter what they were made of because that collection gave you a sense of pride and made your room look cutesy.

Chances are you’re now a very nurturing and loving person. You most likely name all of your possessions (admit it, your laptop has a name). There’s also a strong probability that you’ve replaced your Beanie Babies with actual cats.

Pogs

No matter how you stored them – binders, jars, bags, boxes – your Pogs went with you everywhere. Countless lunchtime hours were spent competing with your friends, showing off your newest collection and praying to the Pog gods that your shiny metal slammer would help you win the jackpot. There was also that secret collection that stayed at home because they were your favorites and you didn’t want to lose them in a game against your enemy.

You’re probably a creative person now. You have a knack for appreciating art and you may even work in an artistic field like painting or illustrating. You’re always trying to find the most unique thing possible, no matter the task.

Pokémon Cards

This collection tested your patience. It was most definitely a money grab, but you didn’t care (you know now that your disinterest of throwing money away was largely because your parents were paying for the cards). You had to have a complete set and nothing was going to stop you from finding that one missing card.

There’s no doubt that this Pokémon card obsession crafted you into a competitive person. You always want to be the best, even at daily tasks. The Pokémon movie is probably hidden somewhere in your VHS collection and I think I can safely bet that you kept your favorite card. Gotta catch ‘em all.

Stickers

This was the most eclectic of collections because stickers were (and still are) available in all shapes and sizes. They were also handled differently by each collector: some kept the stickers in the original packaging, some placed them on the plastic sheets of photo albums, and some put them under the plastic sheets of photo albums, never to be moved again. Trading was a frustrating task, because your friend always had that one sticker you loved and refused to part ways with.

It’s safe to say that you like pretty things. Pinterest is probably your new best friend, a perfectly curated collection of whatever category you love this week. You also buy stickers for every child in your life no matter the occasion.

Rocks

A collection bestowed upon us by Mother Nature herself! You probably started this collection when your parents needed a breather and they challenged you to find as many different kinds as possible buried beneath the sands of a beach. You even had a guidebook to (in)effectively identify the different types.

You have a natural affinity for the outdoors. While you may no longer collect rocks, you still spend time outside and admire the world around us. You appreciate the simple things and have somehow avoided the commodity culture of this century. Rock on!