Lego collectors with children in the house

[rupi]

Lego is just as any other valuable thing in the house (DVD, Stereo, CDs, books, laptop computer...) so if you have small kids you just have to keep some things away from them for their own safety. By the age of 2-3 years they start to understand how things work and want to explore and use the things they see grown ups using. As for my experience I have to thank my son for getting me out of the dark ages

I play with Lego (system) with my son since he was 2 and a half years old. I even got my old sets from the 80's from my parents house and we played with them too. Only once he bited a minifig head trying to pull it out. Of course I told him that he could never put a Lego piece in the mouth again (but that should be aplied to all toys). Now, at the age of five he knows that some sets are mine and others are ours But he also have a bucket of pieces and some sets in his room that are for him to play. Almost all my sets and pieces are in reach and we never had problems, he always asks first when we wants to play with something that is mine. I think that if you play with your son from the beggining, and most important teach him to play, and help him to store pieces back in place after playing, you shouldn't have any problems with your Lego collection. So far I only see advantages in playing with Lego with my son, it is a wunderfull opportunity to be with him and share good moments doing a thing we both like. Another advantage is when it comes hollydays and birthdays it's Lego for both of us.

The only problems I had so far is my nephews (who are older, but arent used to play with Lego) when they come to visit I never forget to lock up the room where I have Lego

[Aaron Morse]

I think adults can be more dangerous to your LEGO collection than kids.

I still have nightmares of my momster and her vacuum cleaner.

I had the same nightmare! Along with losing LEGO down the drain.

I have two boys 7 and 9, they both love LEGO and I've had to learn to share. We have a fairly large collection of LEGO that takes up a goodly portion of our double garage with three large tables and multiple bins some sorted by color and some yet to be sorted, and we've come up with a pretty good system for making sure I don't assimilate their creations into general population, and making sure they don't get into my projects. To make things even more interesting my wife runs a daycare and afterschool minding program, so from time to time there may be one to four children roam through our LEGO kingdom. Rule #1: Don't touch daddy's table (One of the four table is exculsively mine). Rule#2 Everybody gets a bin for their own projects (Although daddy currently has 4 tupperware bins on the go for different projects, and there are at least 6 bins for my kids and their friends and the kids my wife looks after) Rule#3 (For the outsiders) NOBODY puts lego in their pockets or takes LEGO home Rule#4 If daddy sees a piece in your bin he needs, he can't take it w/o permission (unless that piece was taken from his bin) Rule#5 Sorted by color bins are off limits unless permission is asked. Rule#6 Unsorted bins are open territory.

[slimninj4]

My son being one year old is now putting together his megablocks. I love that. He still rather go into daddy's bin and move the blocks around. He loves that sound I think. I let him have a few parts and he holds them for a few hours then puts them back in the bin. He does not put anything besides his pacifier in his mouth so I'm less worried about him eating the legos though I make sure to always watch him.

All the lego sets that I buy I hang on his wall.

[iotacode]

I'm 35 and have 2 young girls; 3 and 6. I would let my girls play around with my SW sets with a occasional reminder, no missing pieces allow. And of course, they have their own duplo and Belville for entertainment.

Frankly, building lego togather developed closer relationship between parents and children. My eldest helped me assembled the Gunship and AT-TE, that's alot of fun along the way.