Your kids and YOUR Lego

[LegoDad]

As an investor/collector/builder, I have all types of Lego at my house. My son is 6 1/2 and loves lego, but he's not allowed to mess with the modulars, yet. He also knows that the storeroom of boxed up Lego is also off limits, though fortunately he's not completely sure of what is in there, if he did, I think I would have a mutiny. We learned this the hard way when I found a couple opened boxes in the basement and we had to have a little heart to heart about what gets built and what doesn't. Anything else that is bagged up by set, or sorted by color in the bins is fair game for him to build with. He will ask me to help him figure out shooting mechanisms and ways to make trap doors and stuff, but he's already getting good and figuring out technic pieces and how they work to make working levers, etc. I love building with him and am sure he will love lego for his entire childhood the way I did. His soon to be 3 year old sister loves his lego too, so she is getting some princes and cakes duplo so that she can have her own.

I is really amazing how Lego has become much more mainstream. When I was a kid growing up in the '80/'90s, hardly anybody played with lego. Could have been that I was from a small town in bfe Nebraska too. Now you don't see many kids that aren't in awe of them when they see them.

[Bobsy]

Very nice thread to read, this. I reckon there's some very good mums and dads here.

[TheRedGuy]

I don't have kids, but I do have a nephew. I used to let my nephew play with them, but after seeing he does not care what happens to my collection I hide them when he comes. When did I lose my trust of him? When he burnt some. I'm sure he'll find it soon, and when he does I'm going to have to supervise him.

Edited January 11, 2013 by TheRedGuy

[BlueCaret]

@TheRedGuy He burnt the legos? A mini pyrotechnic huh?

My nephew has this thing where if he builds something he feels that it is his at that point and even though he can't bring it home, no one is allowed to take it apart so it is all together the next time he comes over. Will have to teach him otherwise as I don't have storage for his creations too when he doesn't even live here :)

[Drock]

... my daughter introduced the pizza tiles into the Death Star so everyone could have lunch...

This made me laugh because when I have my Death Star down, my daughter puts everyone around the conference room table and says, "They're ready to eat dinner.". My minifigs usually just get to munch on the Wampa's drumstick, though.

[ShaydDeGrai]

I don't have any kids of my own but I do have a niece and nephew. Most of my collection (particularly the MOCs) are in the "look but don't touch category". I'm more permissive with smaller kits and minifigures as well as the technic models because the former are easily repaired and the latter tend to be harder for them to break. I'm not an entire stick in the mud though, I keep a couple tubs of unsorted bricks and a few small creator kits handy should they want to build something of their own. If they behave and my brother-in-law doesn't object, I just let them take whatever build with them when they go. They don't visit very often but it's a treat for them when they do.

[Redhead1982]

I have three nephews and a niece and they're all nice to my LEGO collection. The oldest two (9 and 5 yrs) get to play with my LEGO for the last two years. It started with modular that I keep on display, and one of the rules is if something breaks, they have to let me know so it can be fixed before parts are lost. Another one is no biting LEGO. I learned this the hard way when building VW van with them and found some bitten bricks in the end.

The 9 yr old started building modular houses recently. He's pretty motivated with building at my place (my collection is much bigger than his) so I let him build and play. He also gets the concept of sorted bricks, but every now and then I find some misplaced bricks. He recently made this 32-wide hotel, and two 16-wide residental buildings (links to Brickshelf folder), all with interiors.

My 5 yr old doesn't build much, but plays more. He's nice to watch doing role-play (in my medieval diorama, there were two soldiers fighting over croissant and chicken wings).

The youngest nephew (16 months) was impressed by my latest WIP, but is too small to play. Although he was allowed to sit next to my diorama and even touch it. For some reason, his parents were a bit too nervous. And the youngest 4 months old niece was (literally) drooling over my latest WIP (it's almost finished), so I guess she liked it (she was trying to ''hug'' the building).

As many have said, bricks are for building and playing, and on my part, my nephews will always be welcome to play with my collection as long as they would be careful with the bricks (no foul play allowed).

Edited January 12, 2013 by Redhead1982

[kibosh]

This made me laugh because when I have my Death Star down, my daughter puts everyone around the conference room table and says, "They're ready to eat dinner.". My minifigs usually just get to munch on the Wampa's drumstick, though.

lol Awesome! There are pizzas stacked on everything in my Death Star. It will be interesting when she starts introducing her Friends minifigs!

[LEGO Family]

If it MOC´s that we have build together, the kids can play around with it as much as they like. Mostly, we build, take pictures of the stuff and rip it apart ( Only a few Doctor Who mocs of ours that is kept intact ) ...

Mostly i keep my own builds on shelfes located up close to the ceiling. But when they are done and we have taken pictures of them, the kids can rip them apart as they wish.

Sometimes though, accidents happen.

They "accidently" dropped our custom Death Star on the floor before it was even finished ( Cause all the interior was damn fun to play around with. )

However it only took a day or so to rebuild, and we got an even better Death Star that way .... Ill say LEGO is to be played with, and the joy of rebuilding a MOC over and over is worth whatever accidents the kids or one self might have.

Edited January 15, 2013 by LEGO Family

[XimenaPaulina]

Great thread! Lots of interesting insights and experiences from PFOLs.

Recently just had my first child, so I still haven't dealt with this 'kid-LEGO issue' yet. It will be at least 5 years from now before Li'l KDM touches and plays with all of his daddy's LEGO, so he'll have to do with Duplo first. But still, as early as now I'm already preparing my "LEGO will" so to speak as he'll most probably inherit 90% of my collection (I'll keep a few personal favorites to me). When the that time comes, he'll have full ownership of all my LEGO so he could play with them the way he wants to (just no eating LEGO pieces - safety first!). I'll just probably guide him, help him build, but for the most part I plan to let him discover and experience himself the wonderful world of LEGO building.

LEGO is a toy, and meant to be played with.

I guess this is always the internal guilt that most adult toy collectors experience. I, for one, do sometimes feel, that all the LEGO that I've purchased are not 'being used properly' and 'their primary purpose is being wasted' when they're just stored in display cases or boxes. Think of Toy Story and you know what I mean. But after having a kid, all the LEGO that I bought will now be able to fulfill their ultimate purpose in a few year's time - that is to provide joy to a child through play.

[Doctor Whom]

No one said anything about candy and sticky fingers!

[Hey Joe]

No one said anything about candy and sticky fingers!

Oh, don't get me started on that, not to mention crayons and the like!

Joe

[Redhead1982]

That's a must - no playing before the hands are washed thoroughly. And it's working with my nephews.

No one said anything about candy and sticky fingers!

[TheLegoDr]

Recently I had some set that I was looking at and my daughter asked to see it. I didn't want her to break it so I said not right now. She then told me, but my hands are clean! I've never made that stipulation before, so it's funny that she thought it was important. But I agree, clean hands always helps a lot.

[Gryphon Ink]

My first daughter played a big part in getting me back into Lego, in that I wanted good toys for her that weren't Barbies and I wanted things we could do together. So I have always let her play with my Lego and use whatever bricks she wants, except for some special pieces. All of my sets are accessible to her as long as she puts them back. She has only broken a couple of sets and has always put them back together pretty well.

My second daughter now plays with my sets, too, but some of them are off limits or only to play with when I'm with her. She is pretty rough on pieces, so I don't let her have free access to my stock, but she does build sets with me when I buy them. She loves the Friends minidolls, so I let her play with them and mix and match their outfits. Takes some tracking down sometimes to get all my parts back, but that's okay.

[Gryphon Ink]

Forgot to mention, my eldest always reminds us all, "when Dad dies I get all his Lego". She's prepared.

[Drock]

Forgot to mention, my eldest always reminds us all, "when Dad dies I get all his Lego". She's prepared.

Hehe. My wife tells my kids not to ruin my LEGO sets, because they're their inheritance.

[LEGO Historian]

Gryphon Ink brought up an interesting comment... that his daughter having LEGO brought him out of his Dark Ages... this is probably close to the top in reasons for people getting back into LEGO.

This issue of "Your Kids and Your LEGO"... is much older than many of you realize! Below is an image from the late 1957 (first) Austrian LEGO catalog (also shown in the German catalog that year). It shows a cartoon image of a father at the dining room table building on a 1950s style (plastic mat) Town Plan board. The children are asking their annoyed looking mother... "When is Dad going to bed?"

Image from my LEGO DVD/download chapter on early LEGO catalogs (1949-65), with the entire selection of LEGO sets and spare parts packs sold in Austria its' first year.

Edited January 27, 2013 by LEGO Historian

[obsidianheart]

I've got an enormous cabinet full of sorted LEGO elements that's mine, and all my finished MOCs are in storage at another location. My son, who is about to turn 5, has a bucket of LEGO (and clone brad stuff) of his very own, as well as some Cars system stuff and a few miscellaneous sets like the Monster Fighters Laboratory. For now, we keep our collections separate, and I'll pick him up a couple of sets here and there or give him any collectible minifigs I pick up but don't want. This situation may change if he ever develops a real interest in the hobby, but for now, it's working out okay.

[Slobey]

This is the little guys mobile in his bedroom:

camel by slobey79, on Flickr

He loves it and waves goodnight to it before bed every night. Lego freak in the making maybe?

[titiblocks]

i share my collection with my children, all the sets are in boxesin her game room and she can play when she want.

Exept 2 collection, lego star wars and my knight castle 6073 bought buy my parents in 1984 when i was young.

she can play with the castle but with my permission because this set (and star wars sets) are not in her game room .

is a pleasure to build with her.

[hush]

We are in the process of building my man cave - my son and i will be sharing this, we need space for lego, so the plan is to have one bench ( assembly area) and 2 tables mine will be for classic town layout and he will have a new layout, we put his sets together and he modifies them, this week we are going to get my collection out of storage and i'm sure he will sit with me for hours putting it together and advising me on how best to lay it all out i am lookingn forward to this time with him it's on of few things we can share and enjoy.

[Dazmundo]

My 3yr old daughter has her own box of Lego that she can play with whenever she likes. My sets i have on display are out of her reach but she is allowed to play with them when i am there to lift them down for her then once she has finished i can do any repairs and put them back. She isn't really into building MOCs yet but she is quite good at following Lego instructions to build sets.

D

Slight development in our 'sharing' over the Christmas period I had my Winter Village set out on a ledge between the dinning room and kitchen which my daughter can comfortably reach by standing on a dinning chair, she really enjoyed playing with 'Daddys Lego' so we have decided to keep this ledge as a display/play area. We had Hogwarts #5378 ( http://www.bricklink...em.asp?S=5378-1 ) set up for a week before we sold it so then decided I should set up a couple of sets for her. So we now have my wifes Log Cabin #5766 ( http://www.bricklink...em.asp?S=5766-1 ) and this hospital set #6380 ( http://www.bricklink...em.asp?S=6380-1 ) I've had since I was 11! She is loving putting people in the back of the ambulance and driving them to the hospital.

Seeing her play with 'my' Lego is great

D

Edited February 3, 2013 by Dazmundo

[Haldiron]

Here's my take on it: I respect the argument that Lego bricks were "made to be played with" and so you should just let your kids play with them. That being said, I have quite a bit of money invested in them. My philosophy is that once something reaches beyond a certain price point (only you can decide what that is), it is no longer a toy. I've found that many of us are collector's or enthusiasts, not children. Another example that's quite comparable: I remember when the Lord of the Rings films came out and the Toybiz toys were very popular. If you have seen these action figures, you would agree that the level of detail was much better than most action figures being released today. Today, that collection is worth several thousand dollars. To me, they are not toys, they are an investment. I feel the same way about some of the Lego sets I have acquired. Also, lets keep in mind that many of the higher priced sets really were not intended for small children anyway. When it's labeled 16+, I think it's safe to say that it was never intended for a child. These are grown-up toys!

So, here's my compromise, I have bought a few sets for my 5 year old son, but the rest is off limits. I have a spare bedroom upstairs that has been designated as the Lego room and he does not go in there. One day, when he is old enough, I'll think about letting him go in there, but for now, I'm protecting my investment.

Edited February 6, 2013 by Haldiron

[TheLegoDr]

But if you do let him in there, then it still becomes a toy and not fully an investment. He'd basically still need his own LEGO to "play" with in the end.

I do agree there are certainly some collectibles in there. I don't let my daughter play with some of my higher priced figures, but she can basically do whatever with the rest. She breaks a lot, but then I just put it back together. If there is something I really don't want her touching, it sits high on a shelf in another room that she doesn't go into (like you).

But not everyone is a collector/investor. I buy for fun to build, I don't care about appreciation in value or anything like that and I'm not trying to resell later.