How the Lego House Kit Got Me Closer to My Daughter

Have you ever noticed that we have created this world where children are segregated from the adults? I mean, there are kids' tables at family reunions, that are designed to put the kids in the other room while the adults have their fun.

Ever notice how this never works? The kids just get themselves into trouble, and an adult invariably has to intervene. What in the world does this communicate? That kids and adults must live in two worlds that must only intersect if it's absolutely necessary?

While it is true that adults and kids are at different stages of their lives, I don't like to communicate to my children that adults and kids must live in two separate worlds. All that teaches a kid is that the adult life is full of responsibility with no time to play.

I believe that I found something that levels the playing field is Lego. As I have said before in some of my previous articles, Lego is a toy that both adults and kids can thoroughly enjoy, and should therefore be enjoyed together. The other day, I was working on Lego Creator set 4956 (a house construct set) with my daughter and I think I learned more than she did.

First, I learned that kids are smarter than I thought. Some of these Lego kits can be perplexing for adults, so you have to wonder how Lego could be billed as a kid's toy. For example, the first step of this Lego Creator House set focuses on putting the pieces on a big green baseplate, and you have to be very exact. I found that there were many times when I thought I was going to need to do a hard step for my five-year-old daughter, and she just did it herself without any need of assistance.

Yes, children are quick adapters when it comes to Lego. I think the reason for this is because kids want to be adults, but they don't have quite the intelligence for it. However, they will naturally imitate behavior they see in adults. So if parents want to do Lego well, so do the kids, and it is something that they can grasp.

In order to teach my daughter, I found that I had to learn to be patient. There were several times where I wanted to build the house by myself, but allowed my daughter the time to try and do it herself. This meant waiting and waiting, so it taught me the thing that every parent needs to learn, patience.

Yes, Lego actually taught me more about parenting that most would care to admit. If you are a parent who is seeing a wall between you and your kids, the solution might be a good Lego set and a night of building.