Is there anything more painful than stepping on Legos with all of your weight in the middle of the night? I have been trying to encourage Noah's renewed interest in Legos because his recent obsession with Transformers has been driving us crazy. More about that later, but seriously I thought stepping on Matchbox cars hurt, but that's nothing compared to little Lego bits. Shouldn't that be part of the toy development process? A pain scale for each toy? I am convinced that toys are designed by people who have never had children living in their homes. They have never had to endure horrible battery operated noises, extract small items from children's orifices, or seek medical attention for Lego induced pain. Ugh.
So any advice on ways to deal with Legos? Right now they are in a big box with a lid but they always end up on the floor during his search for the perfect little piece. I am trying to encourage him to put his pieces on a tray while building things but he isn't always crazy about that. He'd like to curl up on the couch and create. So what do you do about the Legos? And why is it that there are so many parenting books out there, but none of them have concrete advice like how to cope with Legos (organizationally and physically!).
And yes, I realize this is in direct contrast to my post last night waxing poetic about being outside. But this is our life right now...a series of contrasts, bliss, frustration, natural, and plastic.
Dim Sum, Bagels, and Crawfish
Bits and pieces of daily life, nomadic rambles, pickled cravings, piles of books, and a furry dog. Cajun, Jewish, Taiwanese, American family on the move.
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If you figure it out, let me know. We just have clean up every night before bedtime. All toys are picked up. Yeah right. Invariably, I step on a car or something when I go check on them after they are in bed. We have lots of tinker toys and lincoln logs. And after building, then the structures cannot be put up. They have to be admired for several days. So it's hard to keep them put up. Then you feel like a horrible mom when you say, "Let's not get those out right now".
I feel you pain!
Jan
Legos are the WORST stepping-on offenders!!! With two boys OBSESSED with Legos, I encounter this nearly every day. They keep theirs in a rather large shallow under-the bed size Rubbermaid container/bin thingy so that digging for just the right peice is easier than a deep container. However, parts break off the ships they build, or some scattered in the carpet, or little sister grabbed a few and stuck them in her dress up purse, only to drop them downstairs at a later point in the day. Eric and I feel that they have enough for us to just tell them we'll throw them away if we find them on the ground, but they obviously feel there are enough, too, because it motivated them, um, Not At All. It's the type of creative toy I don't want to take away entirely, so I think we've just resolved to deal with it. Maybe make them walk along a path of Legos (similar to hot coals) as punishment? Would that work? ;-) Ha.
of course, these are expensive. it seems like a lot of cool things are. but i saw this in a magazine.
http://www.containerstore.com/browse/index.jhtml?CATID=77428
My brothers used to have one of those little drawer things that you get at a hardware store to keep nuts/bolts/screws in. What are those called? The drawers are clear so you can see inside and it keeps all those little hard to find specific pieces organized. :) If you think legos are painful try stepping on metal (die cast) airplanes with their pointy wings and pointy tails. I usually have some choice words to say when I step on one of those.
You want to know what's worse than stepping on one, I have found? Kneeling on one! When I worked with kids I used to get down on my hands and knees to help clean up the Legos and I would do that almost every single time. Ouch!
As for organization, we kept them in huge buckets because we had so many(up to 45 kids attended our daycare daily). To clean them up, we gave the kids dustpans and those brushes that you can get for them. The kids would sweep the Legos onto the dustpans and dump them in the bucket. Made clean up very quick!
Thanks for the empathetic and helpful comments! Looks like we have a hurricane headed our way so I imagine there will be quite a bit of Lego time this weekend!
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