To give DS his red book for his birthday?

[TheSecondOfHerName]

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...

Could you pad the gift out a Bit OP? Perhaps include his umbilical cord stump or milk teeth?

Forget the negativity.

I think it is a fantastic idea. When I was 18, I would have loved a red back of old medical appointments and vaccinations, instead of a laptop and money towards a car.

It sounds like you and your son have a close bond, and this gift will only bring you closer together. I really don't even think there is a need for another gift, but if you do insist on one maybe one of his old nappies? It would really make the day special for him. You say he has a good sense of humour, and so I could see him laughing for days and days over this.

I find it a bit odd, but I'm not a keeper of shite.

I have the DC's, I never felt the need to keep anything else!

Well we're all different.

When i was 18 i think i'd have disappeared up my own arse with cringe if i'd been proudly handed my red book. 18 was an age when i was doing my damnedest to detach from being the sweet little dependent child.

I would have found it truly bizarre, and wouldn’t trust an 18 year old not to lose it. It would stay with the box files of exam results until they left home.

It would stay with the box files of exam results until they left home.

Oh God, some of these posts make me feel so inadequate and disorganised!

wouldn’t trust an 18 year old not to lose it

It's not going to matter even if they did though.

Doesnt it go something like this -
PFB - every milestone noted, growth charts plotted, notes page filled up completely.
Child 2 - a couple of notes here and there and vaccines recorded but nothing else
Child 3 - lost down back of sofa or chewed by dog by end of baby's first week at home.

Why would he want that as an 18yo?
You keep it or throw it away or put it away for maybe when he had his first child ... when he might appreciate it a tiny bit

I would LOVE that as a present!

wouldn’t trust an 18 year old not to lose it

It's not going to matter even if they did though.

Well it would to me It's precious and can't be replaced

I think I'm confused by people considering a red book precious as ds's (my PFB and only, now 11) only has something like 6 weight points plotted, the vacc records and a 6 week check ticklist filled out. Am I missing something?

The MW and HV wrote reams/plotted their weight in my two DC's books, and I added stuff too. I plotted their height every birthday and wrote in when they lost their first tooth, when they had chicken pox, other vaccinations etc. When DS2 broke his wrist (twice) when Ds1 broke his kneecap etc

I just thought when they were older they could see what happened when. But maybe they won't care.

There certainly isn’t anything about vaccinations in either of my DC’s. I mean there are a lot of empty pages you are supposed to write things about vaccinations in but I never have nor has anyone who has ever given them a vaccination. And I’ve taken one of them for vaccines this year, so I’m not out of date.

The HCPs wrote in the book when they did the vaccinations.