“Mommy, may I have ten more minutes to keep working?” my daughter pleaded as dinner waited on the dining room table. I smiled and said, “Okay, honey.” She carefully concentrated as she canvased the floor for the next piece to continue constructing the Lego Friends Heartlake Summer Pool. For nearly three hours, she worked on this 589 piece set eager to complete it in one sitting. Occasionally, she came to me or her father for help finding a piece or to make sure she was constructing it properly, but for the most part, my five year old was completely content working solo.

I recall building with Legos when I was my daughter’s age for hours too. This was before the days of Lego Friends. At my grandmother’s home, I would separate the colors, get an idea of what I wanted to build, usually a house of some kind, and then get to work. One of the hardest parts of building with Legos was knowing that at some point my masterpiece would be disassembled, if not by me, certainly by one of my siblings or cousins or my grandmother.

In 2019, there’s so much emphasis on technology, and the toys children play with often do “something” to pique the interest of children, and I don’t totally see there being a problem with this. However, I love with Quinn chooses to play with toys and do activities that really help with her cognitive development and are still fun.

This morning, when I came back home from kickboxing, Quinn quickly opened the second door for me shouting, “I did it, Mommy! I finished building everything!” I was so excited for her and eager to take a picture of her smiling next to the finished product. There’s truly something so fulfilling about building or making something all by yourself and being able to admire your hard work after the patience and effort you employed to get you to that point. I am so proud of my little girl and glad that we both have a love for building with Legos as we continue to build our mother and daughter bond.

All the best,

Tanya