Legos: The Greatest Toys Ever Made

I feel sorry for kids today, I really do. No, not because our education system is in shambles or that global warming and pollution are clouding their futures. I sympathize with them because their toys, putting it bluntly, suck. Yu-Gi-Oh! cards and Bratz dolls? Where's the creativity? Where's the imagination? Where's the ingenuity and inventiveness?

Good toys used to be more than cheap plastic things. They forced you to use your brain. They made you resourceful and creative. Toys that made you build and design. Toys like Legos - in my mind the greatest toy ever made.

Since today, January 28, 2008, is Lego's 50th anniversary, I thought I'd reflect a little on the most memorable toy from my childhood.

When I was growing up, the popular toys were Transformers, He-Man and G.I. Joe action figures. Very cool toys to play with, but, like many of today's toys, you were limited to what you could do with them. It's a robot, now it's a semi truck. Storm Shadow is holding his sword, now he's not. With toys like that, we had to create surroundings and situations. Any table, back porch or sidewalk made for a good battlefield. But what about bunkers, castles and hideouts? For that, we needed Legos.

Sometimes I'd get Lego sets that were meant to be a certain thing - a house, a fire station, the post office, etc. But the real fun came in mixing all the pieces together and letting your imagination run wild. You could build space stations, ships, hovercrafts, fortresses and palaces. The sky was the limit. Your action figure needs a floating crime lab? It could be created in minutes. Need a garage for those robots in disguise? Slap some pieces together and they're safe and sound.

Legos stimulated the mind and provided hours of fun. None of us knew it at the time, but we were shaping our brains each time we created a new Lego structure. Anyone who played with Legos now has a sharper mind and a more creative nature.

And the great thing is, Legos are still around. Sure they've evolved to meet the specifications of today's no-attention-span, technology-centric, instant-gratification youth, but, in essence, they're still just colorful, interlocking bricks that can turn into virtually anything.

So, if your kids can't be pulled away from the computer or Playstation, give them some Legos. They may be resistant at first, but once they start clicking those blocks together, creating whatever pops into their heads, they'll be hooked. It's certainly more entertaining than sitting around trading cards to get more hit points to defeat the avatar or whatever.