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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To give DS his red book for his birthday?

66 replies

TheSecondOfHerName · 08/02/2018 15:21

I'm wondering about giving DS his Personal Child Health Record when he turns 18.

Obviously that wouldn't be his only present.

If IABU, what else am I supposed to do with it? Presumably I'm not expected to hold on to it for ever...

OP posts:

PurpleTraitor · 08/02/2018 15:22

One of ours was lost by approximately six months of age. The other is around somewhere and has two things written in it.

I’d suggest an alternative would be the recycling bin.

MrsJayy · 08/02/2018 15:25

He will probably give you a wtf face but why not let him look through it I have my dds in a drawer i have their hospital cards and bracelets in them I think it is more of a parent thing than a child thing to keep

TeenTimesTwo · 08/02/2018 15:26

I'd hang on to it until he is older / living somewhere stable. I don't think it will get looked after at 18. Hang on to it with his birth certificate and GCSE results certificates.

thornyhousewife · 08/02/2018 15:26

That is a truly shit present.

halcyondays · 08/02/2018 15:27

I'm impressed you still know where it is. Ours are about somewhere, but who knows where.

Angrybird345 · 08/02/2018 15:28

Er.... no!

TillyTheTiger · 08/02/2018 15:29

Keep hold of it until he has children himself. Then he'd probably enjoy looking through it so he can compare himself with his DC (if you've filled in loads yourself too like firsts etc, if it's just a list of immunisations etc then maybe don't bother). My Mum gave me my baby book when DS was born and it was lovely to look through it.

spugzbunny · 08/02/2018 15:29

He won't appreciate it at 18. Wait until he's having kids of his own and then he'll probably be actually interested and won't have thrown it out in the mean time!

meredintofpandiculation · 08/02/2018 15:29

Has it got any thing useful in it, like dates of vaccination? If so, keep it somewhere safe (an 18 year old probably hasn't yet got the hang of keeping documents safe). If nothing useful, then either bin it or wait till he's middle-aged, when people often get a fit of nostalgia and start valuing family history in all its manifestations.

Elmo230885 · 08/02/2018 15:29

I think its a lovely thought. I'm quite a sentimental person, its the sort of thing I'd probably do.

Housewife - why be so rude?

LoopyLou1981 · 08/02/2018 15:29

I’d love that as a present! I think it’s a lovely idea x

CMOTDibbler · 08/02/2018 15:29

I'm impressed you still know where it is. DS's hasn't been seen since he was 2

Sparklingbrook · 08/02/2018 15:29

I still have the DSs. I wrote in it when they had all of their injections, when they had chicken pox etc In case they ever want to know.
It also has the graphs of their height every year.

When they move out they can I either take it with them or bin it.

YerAuntFanny · 08/02/2018 15:29

YABU.

My Mum has kept mine and got all sentimental amongst the family photos one night, pictures of things I get. A book with some numbers in... I couldn't have been less interested.

I'll probably just recycle ours when they're older tbh.

BigFishy · 08/02/2018 15:30

That is a truly shit present

Totally agree with this

It is worth having a note of all the vaccinations he's had and when for the future though.

Original poster

TheSecondOfHerName · 08/02/2018 15:31

That is a truly shit present
I think it has the potential to be both shit and genius (he has a good sense of humour).

OP posts:

ShowMePotatoSalad · 08/02/2018 15:31

As it already belongs to him I think it would be pretty poor to try to gift it to him!

LanaKanesTerfyVagina · 08/02/2018 15:36

One of ours was lost by approximately six months of age

Thank fuck I'm not the only one!

We've moved a few times since DS was born....and I never bothered with it anyway!
He was happy and healthy, did all the stuff in roughly the right places.....why bother?

It's a shit present sorry.

I asked my friend about this ages ago.....she doesn't even remember owning one!

BigFishy · 08/02/2018 15:36

It's a shit present, but I don't think it would make the recipient laugh, as such would it? Just be a bit bemused.

LittleLionMansMummy · 08/02/2018 15:36

Slightly different but my mum gave me my (full, proper) birth certificate for my birthday and the knitted booties I came home from hospital in for my 30th birthday. It was my favourite present. We'd joked for years that the reason I only got a scrappy piece of paper as a birth certificate was probably because my dad had to pay extra for the full one (he's notoriously tight). And I went through a stage of asking them if I was adopted as a result of the original scrappy one. It was a lovely thoughtful present that played on the years of family jokes.

A red book though, I'm not sure about that!

BeachOrPool · 08/02/2018 15:38

I can't believe PP and you included, OP, would consider recycling/trashing your DS's baby book

I can't imagine even thinking of doing such a thing with my precious, cherub of a DS's

silkpyjamasallday · 08/02/2018 15:39

I'm not sure I would have been overjoyed to get my red book as an 18th present. My parents made me a beautiful photo album though with lots of pictures of me from birth to current that I hadn't seen before - they'd kept back some particularly funny ones from the family albums and had written lots of captions about my potential to be a chef/vet/geologist with relevant childhood photos. Best present I have ever received - you could make similar and include some of the more interesting pages from the red book (weight graph? Height Predictions?)if you bothered filling it all out.

Anxiousally · 08/02/2018 15:40

Aww I think it's lovely you still have it I'd definitely give him it when he has a child of his own though I'd love mine or DHs to have a look through now!

Scribblegirl · 08/02/2018 15:41

Oh I'd love that OP but I'm like the PP who said they were sentimental. I'm really good with filing and have had all my personal documents since I left home at 18 but there's also the risk he'll lose it if he's not quite so organised...

Italiangreyhound · 08/02/2018 15:41

Give it to him if he ever becomes a father, he will be far more interested then.

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