In my last column, I was riding high on my horse about how collectors have misread the future of the antiques world as it relates to new collectors. This week, I want to focus on the positives and where we can go. The antiques trade needs to embrace future collectors at a very young age. If Mom and/or Dad are out with the kids, then this is an opportunity to engage them rather than seeing them as a risk factor for something being broken. These are my thoughts about how we can engage the next generation. Have reasonably priced items that kids can collect, and spend some time with young people on those collectibles. For example, both of my daughters began their collecting passion with an interest in Wades, those fun ceramic figures that are generally not more than a dollar or two. It was a great place to begin collecting and building memory skills about what they had and didnt have. Antique shops are cooler than museums because you can pick the stuff up. So, lets encourage that mindset. Allow young people to sit down and touch things. When I was actively dealing, I was more worried about the shaky senior breaking something than I ever was about a young person. Yes, we can incur loss, but that is life. Make the shopping easy. This to my mind is central to the experience. Several weeks ago, I was in New England and was walking around downtown Plymouth, Mass., and went into a mall that was in a reconditioned department store. There were things I would have liked, but finding myself in need of a restroom and there being none, we fled for somewhere else. Come on, folks, make it easy on your guests and provide the basic amenities of life. Speculation in antiques should be allowed to die. This is a hard one because every collector innately wants a good deal, and all of us have purchased items that perhaps we did not want but bought because the price was right and we might just be able to sell it for a lot if we hold onto it. Now ask yourself the hard question: did that ever really happen to you? Maybe if you purchased new toys in the 1950s and held them in an airtight room for decades. However, I am not sure the dealer I met who was hoarding cereal boxes or the collector buying every single limited edition collector plate is ever going to have anything more than landfill material. We need to encourage collecting because it is fun, because it can be affordable, and because living with the past in a physical way is part of our human experience. And if we also collect and are able to resell the pieces in 20 years and make a bit, thats great too. But it is not the reason for collecting and certainly is not the turn-on button for future collecting. Sorry to sound preachy, but we need to openly embrace young people as collectors. At my favorite antiques mall in Mullica Hill, N.J., my youngest daughter loves to hunt through cases for jewelry. The owner makers her feel comfortable, is engaging, and in return my wallet is lighter because my daughter has found those wonderful treasures. That to me is how we keep collecting going. Born to collect should be the motto of Peter Seiberts family. Raised in Central Pennsylvania, Seibert has been collecting and writing about antiques for more than three decades. By day, he is a museum director and has worked in Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Virginia and New Mexico. In addition, he advises and consults with auction houses throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, particularly about American furniture and decorative arts. Seiberts writings include books on photography, American fraternal societies and paintings. He and his family are restoring a 1905 arts and crafts house filled with years worth antique treasures found in shops, co-ops and at auctions.