Keeping Parents’ Treasures

As you spring clean, be thoughtful of your family history, particularly when you clean out. I have been reading too often how the baby boomer generation is discovering that many of their worldly possession, the ones they painstakingly saved and preserved to be passed down, are being disposed of by no other than their own children they wanted to pass it onto. How sad is that!

This seismic shift of stuff is underway in homes all over America and I am sure elsewhere in the world. Yes, it is true many of the BB generation need and want to downsize their living space and give their things away. Unfortunately, many of the next generation; Millennials to be specific, don’t want the large dining or master bedroom suite. It just doesn’t fit into their transient life styles, small apartments or first homes.

Another aspect that is rather disturbing is how these young adults don’t seem to want their own possessions either. School yearbooks, trophies, T-shirt collections, toys, and all those adorable baby clothes the parents hoped their child would dress their baby in. But why, I ask? What’s wrong with revisiting those yearbooks? Why not save a few of those trophies they worked hard to get? Why not take all those quirky T-Shirts and fashion it into a useable item. And what about those baby clothes? Using them again saves money.

I recently read an article that said 20 & 30 year olds don’t appear to be defined by their possessions, other than their latest-generation cellphones. That they live their lives digitally through Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, and that’s how they capture their moments. That their whole life is on a computer. And how they don’t need a shoe box full of greeting cards.

Even more distressing is how a 29-year-old estate marketer (I assume sells homes that will eventually be filled up with the very stuff she wants to get rid of, like old photos, bowls and cocktail glasses) would rather spend money on experiences. Just what does she think will help her remember these experiences if it isn’t stuff . . . souvenirs from a distant land she visited, photos of loved ones and friends that passed on, precious things her family cherished over the generations. And if this isn’t sad enough, her husband echoed, “I consider myself a digital hoarder . . .

if I can’t store my memories of something in a computer, I’m probably not going to keep them around.”   I ask, how can these Millennials be so shallow?  So short-sighted? So superficial? Is their family history meaningless? By time I got to the end of the article, I was fuming. When I read the last statement, I was downright smoldering.

A flippant professional organizer told a client, who should feel insulted, that the three large bags she filled of memories, one for each of her three sons . . . first-grade drawings or boxes with seashells glued to them . . . would not be appreciated. He said, “They made these things and gave them to you and you enjoyed them. The gift-giving cycle is now complete.” How can this so-called professional be so glib? So mindless? Perhaps he was never taught to appreciate gifts given and received? How will he feel when he is old and grey and finds he has no stuff left to reflect the life he lead. One thing for sure, he will have a difficult time healing from the initial loss of the tangible memories he gave away.

This brings me to the subject of my next post: educating the young on the principle of value.

Tuesday Treasures

I asked my husband what was one of the many keepsakes he treasured in our family museum. He did not hesitate a moment when he picked up this little boy doll, not quite 8 inches tall. He has on a Chinese motif red jacket (safety-pinned on) over black pants. The reason why this little guy is so beloved is because when Keith was a little boy, he went to his older sister’s home for the day and there they made together the outfit he has been wearing for over 55 years. His sister Karan was learning how to sew and she thought it would be a good idea to teach her little brother the same. Not only does Keith cherish the memory, he does the same with this little doll. Who said boys shouldn’t play with dolls!

In 1975 I worked at the Harris Bank in Chicago distributing the soon-to-be-famous “Hubert the Harris Lion.” Hubert was the mascot and one of Chicago’s most recognized and beloved icons. When you opened a savings account, you got your choice of either a china bank or stuffed animal, whose idea was created in 1958 by those who brought us the Pillsbury Doughboy and Tony the Tiger.

I was fortunate to have both, however, only the bank remains and stands proudly in our family museum. The large stuffed lion was given away after my daughter, who was about 7 years old at the time, and deemed him to scary, especially at night. So he was given a new home. Both of these items can be found today on E-Bay.

What I remember the most about this stuffed lion is the ingenious marketing. I had observed that it was the men who opened most of the savings accounts and chose the stuffed animal over the bank. And because the lion was packaged in clear wrapping, the man could not hide Hubert as he walked to work or sat on the train, thus, this free advertising created much excitement in the Chicagoland area, before the bank knew it, they were inundated with people opening savings accounts to get Hubert. Who says men are not softies when it comes to stuffed animals. To see the entertaining television ad, visit this website.

 Harris Bank - "Free Hubert" (Commercial, 1981) - YouTube