AIBU to not like Lego?

[MotherWol]

Yes, I know it's an excellent construction toy, creative, doesn't break easily, but it's so annoying! DD is 5 and just starting to show an interest in it, but all I can see are tiny parts that get lost and endless tidying up - we live in a small home and don't have a playroom, so all of her toys live in her bedroom, which will soon be shared with her baby sister. We really don't have room for e.g. Kallax units and endless boxes.

The inventory manager role is one of my least favourite parts of parenting, and IME one that almost always falls to mothers. At least with Duplo the bits are too big to step on/hoover up and the builds don't have to stay on display. Plus so much of the range aimed at girls is twee nonsense (e.g. the Friends range). I'm probably being VU, but surely I'm not alone in this?

Lego is the best. DD wasn't interested but DS loves it. We still have our Lego town and vintage Duplo at my mum's. I leave built stuff but all the pieces just go in three big plastic boxes for inventions.

@AntiMaskersAreTwats what makes you think that? We do plenty of art & craft, and our home’s very far from being a show home. I’m just not mad keen on clearing up tiny bricks (or keeping DD2 from choking on them) in an equally tiny house.

The aspect I really hate about Lego is they build the model. Enjoy it. Then deconstruct it and make something else. Then deconstruct that and make something else. Then all the bits disappear into the huge container and the model will never be built again. That aspect seems such an incredible waste of money.

DP and I have a major philosophical difference over Lego - DP thinks every set should be kept properly segregated and accounted for so it can be built perfectly again; I am very much of the 'build it once, smash it up, then it all goes into a big box with the rest' school.

Bung all into one box, don’t keep sets or anything or sort it. That way madness lies.
Also don’t buy the “girls” lego just the standard type.

@FreeBritnee

The aspect I really hate about Lego is they build the model. Enjoy it. Then deconstruct it and make something else. Then deconstruct that and make something else. Then all the bits disappear into the huge container and the model will never be built again. That aspect seems such an incredible waste of money.

But that’s the creativity of Lego. How can it be a waste of money. The pieces still exist and can be used to make anything your children imagine.

@TheValeyard

DP and I have a major philosophical difference over Lego - DP thinks every set should be kept properly segregated and accounted for so it can be built perfectly again; I am very much of the 'build it once, smash it up, then it all goes into a big box with the rest' school.

LTB

I've just come to accept the lost parts. We build the sets. Enjoy them then they go in with the rest. My son (5) loves making up random things. I do not sweat where every last piece is. There are some sets that are more about making stuff up than specific builds.

Hate lego with a passion, tiny bits, the 'essential' piece can never be found, impossible to take apart, hurts like bugger to stand on, just grrrrr

twocats I hooked up the Friends turbine charger to the Mystery Machine but it wasn't powerful enough so I used Minecraft Cow Power instead

@Legoisthebest Amazing!!

Thanks twocats !

I love mixing themes. Friends, Minecraft and Scooby Doo. Some might say an unusual mixture but that's the fun of Lego !!

Then deconstruct that and make something else. Then all the bits disappear into the huge container and the model will never be built again. That aspect seems such an incredible waste of money

I don't understand why you see that as a waste of money, that's the beauty of it.

And hold on to the instructions and you can build it again if you want.

YANBU. I lived with a Lego obsessive who would NOT stop buying fucking Lego sets for children who were too young to tidy up all the little pieces. It was so stressful. He was very controlling and would get angry if I hoovered up any stray Lego pieces. Because I should of course have been on top of all this shit he kept bringing into the house

I've never been a fan of Lego anyway. Never understood the point of playing imaginary games with something that breaks so easily! Playmobil is so much better for stress free play.

@Trygowithflow

I'm with you on the lego. I worry about all that plastic presumably languishing for ever

No one chucks away Lego.

Buy a big box of bricks. Get an oversized box to put them in. Buy one of those lego bags so she sits ON the bag to play, keeps all parts on it, then you drawstring it together and dump the bag in the box.

It just gives some women a real kick to sneer at other women and look down on what they like. Well done, you’re superior, you don’t like pink or funfairs or moronic doggy day care sets.

I was well into my 20's before I discovered lego came in sets. My childhood lego was all in a bucket. In my defence there was no internet and much less advertising back then! Neither of my kids like building sets now, they just want bricks and make what they want to that day. If they are given a set, ds1 makes me assemble it (which I love!). You don't need lots of room, just a box with a lid and a blanket to play on, so it can be poured back in the box.

@Trygowithflow
I'm with you on the lego. I worry about all that plastic presumably languishing for ever in the shed until the kid has kids and it gets moved to a new house.

I don't know anyone who bins lego bar off pieces that break

@TheKeatingFive

I'm with you on the lego. I worry about all that plastic presumably languishing for ever

Lego's among the most passed down/reused toys ever. We have 40 year old lego in our house. Save your concern for the much more problematic poor quality plastic toys.

Absolutely. Our children played with my DH's lego from the late 60s/70s as well as modern sets. I have every expectation that it will be used by our grandchildren and probably subsequent generations. That's if our 18 year old DS ever let's anybody else have it. He's off to University to study mechatronics next year - an interest that came directly from participation in the First Lego League. Both he and his brother made it to the national finals several times and one year their team represented England at the internationals. That was a truly extraordinary experience that's influenced their lives significantly, and all started by a box of plastic bricks.

Those that think Lego Friends is twee, sorry to say it but it really does sound like you're saying that because the girl characters are prominent, you've assumed it's silly.

Off the top of my head, there was an amazing-looking working ski lift using technic pieces a couple of years ago, water parks, working theme park rides, animal rescues with vet kit, cinema, treehouses... Loads of nature and STEM themes, the characters wear all kinds of colours, pretty much all the sets can be broken down to bricks and rebuilt into anything at all.

But goodness, it must all be silly girly rubbish because they use a bit of purple on the box!

My children are playing with DH’s Lego as well as their own. It’s fab.

@LittleBearPad be careful if your dh’s Lego dates from 1978-88 as the red and yellow coloured bricks from that time contain a carcinogen.

@ThisBear

Those that think Lego Friends is twee, sorry to say it but it really does sound like you're saying that because the girl characters are prominent, you've assumed it's silly.

Off the top of my head, there was an amazing-looking working ski lift using technic pieces a couple of years ago, water parks, working theme park rides, animal rescues with vet kit, cinema, treehouses... Loads of nature and STEM themes, the characters wear all kinds of colours, pretty much all the sets can be broken down to bricks and rebuilt into anything at all.

But goodness, it must all be silly girly rubbish because they use a bit of purple on the box!

I was going to link to the ski lift! It looked amazing. There was also a Lego friends version of the Death Star

Honestly I think some of this is (potentially unconscious) internalised misogyny - that girly things are pathetic, and we should encourage girls to like boyish things instead because they are cooler.

I’m less of a fan of the fairy range, because I’m not particularly interested in fairies (also not interested in Ninjago or Harry Potter Lego). But the Friends range is great - basically Lego City (which is the best range in terms of actual playsets), but with more prominent female characters.