Your kids and YOUR Lego

[naf]

I'm guilty of "biting" Lego when I was younger, but as stated above it was to help separate stuck bricks and not to see what they taste like. This was before the days of fancy brick separators. I used teeth, butter knives, anything I could use to get a little leverage on something that was really stuck. Kids just don't think about leaving marks on bricks, they just want those things separated!

Luckily much of my old Lego is in very good condition due to my slight tendency towards OCD behaviors . Anything too chewed up is easily replaced via bricklink.

[DougleGo]

Wow I am sorry to drag this thread up from the nearly 2 years ago but I've been reading every comment throughout the day and so much of it reminds me of myself and situation.

I absolutely loved LEGO as a kid. Had buckets and boxes and buckets more all over the house and built everything and anything (though most of it was only recognizeable to me). I kinda left it alone for a lot of years and last year my wife decided to get our boy some sets for Xmas. I ended up building it all and showing him what to do and he took over which left me wanting more. I started buying Star Wars Lego which I've always wanted to do but never did, and now the Star Wars sets are mine and the City sets are his to do as he pleases with. Though my wife understands that should he become bored of it it's all mine

[obsidianheart]

I posted in this thread a little over 2 years ago... My son's going to be 7 soon, and he's gotten into trains. We've taken the lock off the LEGO cabinet (I don't wanna say it was because of the LEGO Movie, but it was because of the LEGO Movie) , and he knows he can get anything out except the bagged WIPs as long as he put it back. Mostly he just leaves it alone, though.

[Lady_Scarlett]

I love this topic!

My daughter of 8 (since saturday ^^) is allowed to play with all my LEGO, included my MOCs. One rule : try to be careful and tell me if something "breaks" so I can fix it.

So, of course, she doesn't play like I would do myself (I don't play, I create scenes who tell a story ), but LEGO are toys and I'm happy to see her enjoying them.

She's allowed to pick pieces in my boxes but they are mine so if I need some, I'm first on line. Now, she knows that using the grey and brown pieces is quite dangerous, lol.

And she has just for herself lots of LEGO and bricks.

My son (13), who has lots of LEGO himself too, mostly to display in his room, loves to change little details on my MOCs, just for fun. Most of the time, he moves the minifigures to make them act silly. It sometimes take me a while to discover it

I'm only mostly in the "realistic medieval" theme, and both of them want to have their own minifigures to put in my world. I built a "Ezio" (and a cart of hay) for my son, and my daughter would like herself (lol) as a "medieval little girl".

And my biggest one (15), she comes after the two other one to put everything perfectly.

[Gongoro73]

Looks like the writers of The Lego Movie were inspired by this topic.

[Bricksnaps]

5 year old girl and 8 year old boy. I have my own little supply, they are welcome to use as they like, but if I need something of theirs I take it :) It's a fun hobby to share with the kids, I was a kid when I started and my dad never restricted me, so I cannot do that to them. At the end of the day it is lego. It is not my career, it is not my life, but we have lots of fun with it, just today my daughter asked to take one of the 12 airspeeders I have stacked in my closet and asked me to make it girly. Happy to do so!

[Cloveapple]

I don't have kids, but I do have two sets of Lego. When my parents retired, I cleared out the last of my childhood things that they had in storage. There was a huge garbage bag full of Lego that I cleaned (in the dishwasher) and brought to my job. I work with people with intellectual disabilities. Some of them are mentally three or four or ten years old in how they see the world.

They had so much fun with Lego that it was impossible not to join in. They pulled me right out of my dark ages. So now I have newer Lego at home, but my childhood big-fig Lego stuff is at work. It's taken a heck of a beating. They play rough. Sometimes I wince when I see the printing getting scratched off and pieces being broken. But there's no way I could take back that Lego. It wouldn't be fair. So I remind myself that we are having a blast, and that the point of toys is to play.

[Breakdown]

I think that sharing lego is hard. My approach as I get my city to where I want it with my nephew who comes over and plays lego here and has since age 2, is that if you don't want me disassembling your creations . . . respect the sovereignty of mine.

The most difficult and annoying thing when he was really young is he had this obsession with removing and discarding the visors from helmets which drove me nuts. Its a minor miracle that none went missing (at least to my knowledge).

You have to supervise. I think that it's best that they have their own lego. But playing alongside them in a more "rules-free" lego situation can be rewarding.

I made this with a 4-year-old niece. It's an epic mess, but actually does give me some ideas. It's the house of the future, or something.

The white 90 degree brick is a toilet in her world.

[kibosh]

I stopped being Lord Business after seeing the LEGO Movie with my family. I have a LOT of LEGO setup around the house. The only real rules I have are:

1) Daddy's LEGO stays where it is. You can play with my car in my display, but I don't want to find it in the bathroom.

2) You can play with Daddy's display, but you can't make big changes. Move the minifigs around. Create any scene you want. But don't rebuild my buildings or vehicles.

3) Have fun with Daddy's LEGO, but be careful with it.

It's LEGO guys, not fine art. My enjoyment of my kids enjoying LEGO far out weights me enjoying it myself.

[tuskel]

I don't have kids, but I do have two sets of Lego. When my parents retired, I cleared out the last of my childhood things that they had in storage. There was a huge garbage bag full of Lego that I cleaned (in the dishwasher) and brought to my job. I work with people with intellectual disabilities. Some of them are mentally three or four or ten years old in how they see the world.

They had so much fun with Lego that it was impossible not to join in. They pulled me right out of my dark ages. So now I have newer Lego at home, but my childhood big-fig Lego stuff is at work. It's taken a heck of a beating. They play rough. Sometimes I wince when I see the printing getting scratched off and pieces being broken. But there's no way I could take back that Lego. It wouldn't be fair. So I remind myself that we are having a blast, and that the point of toys is to play.

Hats off to you!

EDIT: However, on topic, we only have one set of Lego. I buy stuff, and my daughter occasionally buys Lego Friends sets with her pocket money, but it all goes into the same boxes, even the rare old things. To be fair, she is careful with it and a much more imaginative builder than me to boot. So it's more like... me and HER Lego.

tuskel,

sincerely

Edited February 20, 2015 by tuskel

[Bricksnaps]

So this really is a topical topic. I am currently working on a bricklink 10179 so am working in my office. My son has a bunch of his Star Wars things lying around in my office, my daughter walked in with her big box of lego and asked me to make her some Star Wars friends...this is what we came up with, we did the airspeeder on Wednesday I think and the others this weekend. It was so much fun!

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/130781391@N07/16604693441/

[tuskel]

So this really is a topical topic. I am currently working on a bricklink 10179 so am working in my office. My son has a bunch of his Star Wars things lying around in my office, my daughter walked in with her big box of lego and asked me to make her some Star Wars friends...this is what we came up with, we did the airspeeder on Wednesday I think and the others this weekend. It was so much fun!

https://m.flickr.com...07/16604693441/

Heh, those are cute! Friends landspeeder and AT-ST! Loads more girls would be into Star Wars if all their vehicles looked like that!

tuskel,

sincerely

[naf]

My kids are a bit older now, but they still have their own Lego, and I have mine in a separate place. I will build my big sets like my modulars with the kids helping, and they can play with them with me, but they aren't allowed to play with them unsupervised. They still have a tendency to chew parts, especially things like minifig accessories, antennas, etc. The kids have a ton of Lego to build with because of birthdays and Christmas gifts. No need to get into dad's stash

[motokokawaii]

I have a 3 year old girl and baby boy who is 10 months.

They both have a huge amount of Duplo which we will play with together.

My girl has all my old Lego from I was a kid, this is not in the best of ways but there is a lot of it. I have introduced her to all this stuff first as I really dont care much about it and she can experiment as much as she likes with it. I also gave her all my old minifigs and some duplicate CMF's I have.

Now she has learnt not to chew, snap etc with my old stuff I have bought her some Lego

Classic boxes which are really cool, some creator 3in1 sets and some mixels.

When she gets older I might let her play with some of my stuff, but certainly not yet :)

I quite look forward to a time when they are both old enough to make a nice town with trains etc, but hey one step at a time!

PS I was terrible as a kid, I was always chewing and EATING bits as I played lol

I remember that I especially liked the pegs on the underside of bricks and 1x1 studs :/

Edited April 13, 2015 by motokokawaii

[Bricksnaps]

I think more importantly...how do we stop friends of our own children playin with our lego and breaking theirs.

That is one off my biggest parenting dilemas. My children and I spend hours of family time together building, playing and lots of money too...only for some kid next door to break it up. We basically started shutting off rooms and limiting who comes over...my kids are happy with that too.

[Darkdragon]

Right now my son has his own (prima, quattro, and duplo) that he doesn't play with yet - he's only 3 months. I think that what will happen when he's older is he will be allowed to play with whatever we have except certain items (like 9v trains, monorail, etc) that I want to keep together for specific uses. I will also probably give him a bucket of figures that are his to do as he wants and stay out of mine because those are the most important part for the way I play with lego...and could really hamper my builds if i am missing a torso or head for something I'm in the middle of.

I plan to teach early about keeping things sorted and put away after building sessions. Who knows how that will go though.

I think more importantly...how do we stop friends of our own children playin with our lego and breaking theirs.

That is one off my biggest parenting dilemas. My children and I spend hours of family time together building, playing and lots of money too...only for some kid next door to break it up. We basically started shutting off rooms and limiting who comes over...my kids are happy with that too.

I would not let other children into the lego room at all.

[dr_spock]

I plan to teach early about keeping things sorted and put away after building sessions. Who knows how that will go though.

Good luck. Getting them to put away is easier than trying to get them to sort. Any piece of LEGO daddy steps on becomes his.

[Darkdragon]

Haha! Well I hope to implant the idea that "putting away" means "each part in it's correct place". I figure if I start that at 3, it might stick. Also it will make me do a better job of it since most of what a kid does is based on what he sees (or so i read).

[ekobor]

I do not have kids, nor do I hope to ever have them...

I'm not sure I could share my Lego with (a) kid(s). I would very likely need to have a separate bunch that they could use. I have a hard time sharing my "toys" with adults, unless I really trust them. It is the same with my arts things.

I don't mind my things getting damaged, per se, but only if it is me that does the damaging. Because then I can only be upset at myself.

[WarHawk]

The Legos sets in Our house, are ours. we share them all. I have just a few builds I make sure my sons know nothing better not happen to them. Other then that they are on display in our toy room and they can play all they want. I only get upset when something gets broken and they don't tell me. No matter what I claim as my own, that figure or that build will become my youngest sons favorite. He just likes what Dad likes. Im ok with that.

[Asphalt]

My daughter and I share most of our bricks. Except when it is something I scoured Bricklink for to make something specific. Then it goes in a different container.

[rodiziorobs]

Mine are mine, and theirs are theirs. Sometimes they want to play with mine (I have lots more parts and more minifigs, which they love combining), and sometimes I want to play with theirs (they have newer sets with several pieces I don't have). We often share pieces or borrow each others', but I try to keep track of everything so it can eventually be returned. And I have given them a lot of my basic bricks (anything 2xn) so that if younger kids come over there is still a box that can be played with.

[Alucard1977]

Actually my son does the building and I help where I can. He is the one that likes keeping the lego city looking like the lego city. Even though he caught wind of bricklink and wants me to get him a whole bunch of pieces so that he can build his own modular building. The kid is freaking 6!

When he is older, I will do that for him. For now, I know he will get frustrated when it is not like the other lego's he has.

[WarHawk]

I was in my toy room yesterday doing some spring cleaning, when i started to take some older sets apart, thats when my youngest son came in and was like "DAD what are you doing?" I said calm down just taking some sets we dont use apart. He walked over to me said can you sit down, I said sure. He said DAD there are rules in this toy room, we do not take apart the sets we build. I said to him, " Colin we never use", thats when he cut me off and said " DAD never now get them put back together.....The whole thing made me laugh. But he said it as serious as a heart attack. That is the part that made me laugh. So i did put thesets back together, and I called to him and said " hey does that meet your approval, Lord Business ? He said to me, " Yes it does, and lets not let this happen again."

[Alucard1977]

I was in my toy room yesterday doing some spring cleaning, when i started to take some older sets apart, thats when my youngest son came in and was like "DAD what are you doing?" I said calm down just taking some sets we dont use apart. He walked over to me said can you sit down, I said sure. He said DAD there are rules in this toy room, we do not take apart the sets we build. I said to him, " Colin we never use", thats when he cut me off and said " DAD never now get them put back together.....The whole thing made me laugh. But he said it as serious as a heart attack. That is the part that made me laugh. So i did put thesets back together, and I called to him and said " hey does that meet your approval, Lord Business ? He said to me, " Yes it does, and lets not let this happen again."

This is so funny on so many levels:

1- I am sure you or your wife has used terms with him such as "serious as a heart attack" "can you sit down" "Let's make sure that this doesn't happen again."

2- That he is so serious about this

Get a new set, and say "oh oh, there is no room for this Modular building or whatever, what do we do?"