Discovering the wonder of Legos

My children were never really into toys. From a young age Alex preferred making his own trouble *ahem* I mean, fun. Anna has always been good about improvising things to play with and amusing herself now and then or even letting me play with her.

A few weeks back while doing some organizing of my son’s closet, I came across a old box of Legos (from when I used to teach religious education if you can believe that). We’re not talking Duplos here, these are the “big kid” Legos—the ones that make the biggest mess on the floor and that you find scattered in every room in your house. Swell.

One morning while I cleaned up the breakfast dishes, my kids found their way upstairs to play. After the dishes were done and the house was picked up, I noticed an eerie silence. I dashed upstairs afraid of what I might find. To my surprise, both kids were sitting on the floor working together to make a Lego building. I tiptoed back downstairs so I wouldn’t interrupt the play.

Not only were they playing together, but they were doing it quietly, without killing each other and it was, quite literally, constructive play (okay, pun intended). This occurs now almost daily for a good half hour to 45 minutes. And Alex will insist some mornings that we shouldn’t go outside to play, but stay in to play Legos.

To the mom of a son who never really enjoyed toys, this is a welcome change and a bit of a relief. Cheers to the Danes and their Lego invention!