Subject:
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Re: A first step
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Mon, 26 Jul 2004 17:57:03 GMT
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Viewed:
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1500 times
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"Mark Jordan" <mark.jordan@oracle.com> wrote in message
news:I1G0KI.vK2@lugnet.com...
> Yesterday was a wonderful first for our family. My 20 month-old daughter
> attached 2 2*4 bricks together for the first time!
Congratulations, that is a fun moment.
>
> Its great to see the delighted look on her face when I open the box of • basic
> bricks with its bags of pretty colours, the zooming sound (copied from me) • she
> makes when I build her a plane out of 7 2*4 bricks, and finally the look • of
> concentration she got when she started trying to get the two bricks • together.
>
> A wonderful moment! Maybe now she will be more interested in her Duplo.
>
> My mother-in-law told me I shouldn't build Lego in front of my daughter. • She
> thinks my massive colour coordinated, SNOT, themed and witty creations • will give
> my daughter an inferiority complex and stunt her Lego development.
>
> Does anyone have an opinion on this? Does excessive AFOL enthusiasm cause
> problems for the kids?
I don't think so. I have four kids ages 9, 7, 4, and 2 (oldest is a boy,
other three are girls). They all have been exposed to my hobby for a long
time, pretty much all of their lives. They enjoy coming into my room and
playing with my stuff. I don't think any of my children are "intimidated"
by what I build or how I do it. They each build on their own, some more
than others but they all do it to some extent.
I try and build with each of them on their own as time permits especially
when they express an interest in doing so. I always have a mixed up tub of
unsorted stuff LEGO on the floor which they are welcome to play with. I
always leave my "people box" out all the time as well. All of my kids enjoy
playing with the minifigs and mixing and matching the various body parts to
make new characters. It isn't unusual to see an ambulance driver carrying a
light saber or a Martian with a popsicle or a minifig with three heads (or
as my nephew made last week, a minifig with 54 heads wearing bell bottoms).
My two year will wander in and pick up a few bricks and wander out and stick
them together and take them apart over and over. She isn't making anything
per se but she understands the concept of how LEGO elements connect
together.
I often solicit the opinion of my kids with respect to color and detail,
particularly on whimsical things. When I built a large church my seven year
old daughter helped me quite a bit. As I worked out a pattern for the
stained glass windows she made multiple copies of it for me. When I had
made once section of the church which had columns and arches, she copied it
for me and put them in place. It became "our" project and she was a big
help to me.
My two older kids (son and daughter) have built many of the vehicles I use
in our (NCLTC) train layout when we set it up. They both enjoy building the
older (early 90's) type vehicles and we will frequently scan through
BrickShelf to find instructions of something they want to build. I used to
help them find the right parts, although as they have gotten older the need
to do that is much less.
One of the things I found humorous recently was my four year old asking me
where I put the "Race Car Truck". I couldn't figure out what she was
talking about until she said - "the white truck with the three race cars".
She was talking about 6335 (http://guide.lugnet.com/set/6335) which is one
of my favorite sets and one I had out on my desk for a long time. She would
come in and play with it (usually changing all of the drivers to girls) on a
regular basis. I had taken it to our last train show so it got put away
when the show was over. She has now asked about it several times so I need
to get it back out.
So back to your question. If you involve your children in your hobby and
look for ways for them to be involved then I don't think you will do any
harm by exposing your child to what you can build. However if your LEGO is
"off limits" and can't be touched, then it may (will?_ be a source of
tension you'll have to contend with.
Mike
--
Mike Walsh - mike_walsh at mindspring.com
http://www.ncltc.cc - North Carolina LEGO Train Club
http://www.carolinatrainbuilders.com - Carolina Train Builders
http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=mpw - CTB/Brick Depot
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | A first step
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| Yesterday was a wonderful first for our family. My 20 month-old daughter attached 2 2*4 bricks together for the first time! Its great to see the delighted look on her face when I open the box of basic bricks with its bags of pretty colours, the (...) (21 years ago, 26-Jul-04, to lugnet.general)
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