AIBU to limit Lego

[warmmfeet]

Sorry to anyone who finds this ridiculous
I'm just curious if anyone has a similar situation and what you did - if anything

DS is 4 and he is utterly obsessed with Lego. I love Lego and I'm glad he's found something he loves, that he can be creative with that aids skill development in lots of areas.

He inherited 3 lots of mixed bricks from older cousins so we have tons. He will happily play with it for hours. I know I'm lucky in this regard that he doesn't need entertaining. However I really struggle to get him to do anything else at home. He'll do painting or play in garden for 10 minutes then he's itching to get back to Lego. He's definitely got an obsessive personality!

I'm thinking of limiting his Lego play. Like 1 session in the morning and one in the afternoon. 3 hours a day total. Just to encourage him to engage properly in other stuff.

But is this just weird and mean of me?
I want him to try other stuff and develop other skills but he's still really young so maybe I just need to chill out ?!

Honestly I'm not sure this would be my hill to die on. If it was screens, yes - something like lego, no. What about introducing other children who like lego or finding lego clubs if you want wider socialisation.

Seems like a sure fire way to ensure he spends the whole summer frustrated and it's likely to lead to unnecessary arguments and tantrums.

I'd leave him to it.

as a fellow lego addict, no, leave him to it.

Its good for spatial awareness, thinking, creativity.. its actually used as therapy for some kids because it does SO much for the brain development, and can be used for social/emotional development too.

Let him play.

In the nicest possible way, what do you hope to gain here?

If you think there are skills he's missing, you could try and develop them through lego.
Imaginative play with characters, making the shape of letters with blocks etc

What? No!
One of my children will (and does) Lego for hours, one of mine will craft for hours. People have different interests.

I would want to be able to get out and about, walks, park visits, swimming, socialising. Whilst at home though, I would let him crack on. My ds was similar at that age. As he has aged he will always have one thing on the go that he puts lots of time into. At the moment it is online chess. He is just the sort of person who likes to have one hobby to the exclusion of other things. There really isn’t much point trying to fight his nature.

@mathanxiety I was just hoping to get him engaged in some of the many other things that the world has to offer! As well as Lego.

BUT yes you are all right, Lego is a positive interest. We already attend 2 local Lego clubs. We've booked a Legoland trip for his 5th birthday and I'm always tracking down Lego books, colouring sheets etc.

We'll carry on. He's my first child, he's amazing and I'm not complaining as such. I was just wondering if I should be doing things differently but yes it would definitely stress him out a lot to start limiting it. He starts school in September so that'll naturally mean he has less Lego time and learns about other things. He might as well live it up now.

Thanks for the perspective !

Very unreasonable. Many children are obsessed with Lego, my cousin spent hours playing with it well into his teenage years. You have to let him enjoy things he likes, lego is super creative and stimulating anyway. It’s not like he wants to watch tv endlesslyz

Wow. No I wouldn’t restrict.
I would love it if mine got off their screens and went back to play with the obscene amount of lego collected when they were younger and these days mostly ignored

Why?
Lego is amazing.
He could grow up and become a Lego designer which is a very hard to get job.

I have never understood the endless push for "roundedness" in children. Some people prefer to be experts and have more obsessive personalities, and I don't think it should be discouraged. My DS had various single minded obsessions as a child, the fell in love with computers and I didn't stop him. He's now reading Computer Science at Cambridge. Don't kill their passions by turning them into generalists.

@SnowyPetals thanks, that's very interesting. He's been this way since he was 2, it was diggers, trains, then Lego! I wonder what will be next.

I'm assuming normal Lego and not Duplo (which I also collect). I met DH in a club for adults who likes Lego, he buys boxes of it every day, we are looking for a bigger house. Funnily enough our DD prefers Playmobil so she has loads of it.

He's three. Play should be intrinsically motivated and child led. Leave him be. There's a lot of understanding the world, maths and fine motor development in Lego.

@Bananalanacake oh no how typical she prefers playmobile! No he likes Lego he can follow instructions quite well by himself for the younger age sets but he mostly really likes making his own creations

He's 4.5.

Ok thanks everyone, I really appreciate all your thoughts and opinions and my son would appreciate them even more if he knew!

I was being unreasonable!

Why? He’s not attached to a screen, he’s not watching tv and he’s not chasing traffic. He could be a future engineer or architect who is passionate about his vocation. It’s a wholesome interest with educational and creative value.

I had Thomas, Bob then ben10.... I envy you your Lego!

Update us when he's an award winning engineer ☺️

OMG I wish my boy was as interested in Lego when he was little! He's in his 20s now, living with partner, had expensive private education, lives with chronic illness/disability and does absolutely fuck all other than laze in bed all day and waste his life on the internet all night. He became addicted to screen play (laptop/pc gaming, Gameboy, phone games, chat rooms, etc...) ever since his father issued the first Child Rearing Directive with Jump Ahead Baby when our son was about 18 months and DS learned very quickly that screens were fun - FWIW I wanted to burn the damn game in a blazing fire. I argued against the tech but became the bad parent (even though I was the SAH and hospital parent) Ex said I knew nothing and screen play was not addictive (bullshit!) and that's one of many reasons why ex is my ex.
My DS would be minted if he wasn't such an addict.
Praise the Lego. If you need a change, try Meccano or K'Nex. Be glad if the 3D intellectual stimulation x

do you suspect autism? I’m not saying you should but if there are other signs then the Lego obsession may be one too. If so it may be worthwhile encouraging him to follow other pursuits and see friends so he doesn’t just live in his own world.

Lego is great. It's architecture, engineering, Maths and creative play.

DS made space ships, I made princesses and acted out stories.

DS and DD went to stay at a family friend's house at ages 16 and 13. DF messaged to tell me that they were all building a lego city together.

No don't limit lego!

Join in and play with him x

Thanks all - I will not limit Lego. So interesting to hear everyone else's experiences.

I wouldn't say he chooses it over screens because he doesn't have an iPad or anything yet but I'm v relaxed with TV.

I don't really suspect autism but I get your point. He's very sociable. I'd love him to make some Lego friends and I'm sure he will.