When I was younger, I asked Santa for Legos, and was given a lavender and pink set that allowed me to build -wait for it- a nursery. Apparently the manufacturers of Lego, and my parents, assumed I only wanted a baby girl. Baby cradles with hearts, high chairs, even little pink rocking chairs for mom to sit in while rocking the baby to sleep. Meanwhile, I wanted the primary color blocks that my brother had. Was this all that was expected of me, pink girly toys? Were my parents to blame for trying to generate an obvious separation between my brothers and my combined our toys, or was Lego trying to tell me that I could only be a 'Mommy' not an architect or engineer? Was lego stifling my ability to learn to build my own creations rather than providing me with specific instructions on how to construct their designs? So many questions.
Over the last 20-some years I haven't found a satisfactory answer, but I have found myself still bitter over the idea that my brother could have been an architect, but I was only destined to be a Mom. Recently, I was at a toy store picking out a Lego toy set with a friend and noticed that they don't even sell those tubs of simple lego blocks anymore. No longer are children challenged to build a house without instructions. Four wheels and an array of blocks and you have a car. I could build anything from a palm tree to a pet dog the Eiffel tower or a grand mansion on a cliff. But now, you have to have the 'set' in order to construct your fantasy toy. Don't worry, instructions suitable for a 12+ year old provided. Granted, like in baking or driving a car, the ability to follow instructions is an unmistakably important skill in child development. I'm not belittling the idea to teach children to use their cognitive skills along with their eye/hand coordination. What I am questioning is, what happened to using your imagination? What happened to making a master piece, showing your parents and having them praise you for your unique interpretation of.... a fire engine?? Are children no longer challenged to look at the world outside of a pre-constructed box set? Are they all future computer programmers, but no painters? Is the ability to follow instructions more important than developing a perspective and personality.
I have no answers for these questions. Perhaps my parents bought the lavender and pink legos because they knew they were my favorite colors. Perhaps they never caught on that my brother never learned to share. Perhaps, had I been given my own set of blocks, I would be writing this as an architect (which was an early dream I had as a child) rather than a pending Mom.
I've asked my husband his thoughts on the subject (after suggesting that we create a 'Lego Wall' for our future sons bedroom - just think of the possibilities. BTW, he said no. Think of the mess and choking hazards.) As a child, he apparently had a whole basement dedicated to his lego construction site. Apparently, a relative of his sat down with him and build some elaborate set and submitted it to a lego competition (he didn't win - obviously the real reason for declining my Lego wall idea). He was given the possibilities to use his imagination and build a city full of dinosaurs and space ships and sky scrapers all without detailed instructions other than the encouragement (and supervision) of an adult. Now, 20 some years later, he possesses that confidence to think outside of the box and find unique solutions to problems. No, hes not an Architect or Engineer, but he can do more than follow instructions.
So, what I want for my son is to never stifle his creativity and ability to think outside the box and build whatever his imagination drives him to build. I want to give him all the ordinary rectangle lego blocks and see what he comes up with. My husband, on the other hand, believes it more important to give him a box set of legos and have build it per the instructions. So, whos right?
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