Saturday, August 27, 2011

My own little piece of crazy

It all started when I thought the Mormon obsession with sex couldn't get any creepier. We saw Meridian Magazine advising prospective FiLs to grill their prospective SiLs about porn consumption. Not as a joke. And don't forget the Children's Friend teaching girls they need to cover their shoulders to be "modest." At the age of four. That was closely followed by this kids-n-sex gem in which naked Barbies are "a poison worse than the black plague of death itself" for boys in second grade.

As a mom of two little boys, I have to admit I find it a little disturbing to start the sex-shaming so young (or at all, really). But the other disturbing part was how the article hit on my own little piece of crazy, with this throwaway line that that mom tossed in for comic relief:

and there are LEGO pieces we've resigned we'll never find


Blasphemy!!! What kind of mom would say something like that?! lol


a portion of our Lego collection

Everybody knows that a good mom is supposed to regularly gather up every single Lego piece in the whole apartment and obsessive-compulsively sort them into seventy categories, each in its own separate bin.

I'm kidding. Naturally, I recognize that this behavior is a little bit nuts, and I wouldn't expect any other parent to do it. Yet, there is a method to my madness. Allow me to explain:

First off, sorting the Legos is a Zen kind of task -- a nice break from my day job (which requires a non-trivial amount of concentration). Secondly (and probably most importantly), it's so much easier to build things out of them if you know what pieces you have and can find them all. And I like playing with them too!!

I get so sick of the kids asking for new toys all the time -- when they have plenty of perfectly good toys they're not playing with. Whenever the Lego collection is sorted anew, it's like getting a new toy -- the kids make some really imaginative stuff out of them! Plus they have fun playing with the stuff they build.


Can the Hero Factory escape from the kitchen where the villains trapped them?

The disadvantage is that my kids are always asking me to find this or that piece for them. The advantage is that I actually know where the pieces are. And most of the time they can find them -- and sometimes even sort them -- for themselves! :D

12 comments:

Donna Banta said...

OMG, just when I think I've heard it all. Thanks for the hysterically funny links, also the pics of your adorable son and impressive lego storage.

C. L. Hanson said...

Thanks Donna!!!

Carla Schmidt Holloway said...

LEGOS and K'nex ... the bane of my housecleaning existence.

also, the captcha code for my post is "potsperm." LOLZ!

C. L. Hanson said...

Hey Macha!!!

It's true, with all those tiny pieces that find their way all over the house, it's bound to be work, so I convince myself to embrace it. It's not always fun-and-games, though. One time our washing machine stopped working, and it turns out there was a Lego blocking the drainage pipe!

What's K'nex?

Carla Schmidt Holloway said...

What's K'nex?

HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS!?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%27Nex

C. L. Hanson said...

Cool!!!

They look like fun! Again, I must ask myself the eternal question: "Do we really need another addiction?" ;)

JentheHumanist said...

I don't think that's crazy at all. And it would work exactly as you say - the toy would be new again. I've had to let go of the idea that the lego games should be treated as separate legos from the mass lego collection. Apparently those peices are critical to other building projects so they get mashed up with other sets all the time. I've had to let that go and not worry about. Plus, he doesn't like playing the games, he just wants the pieces.

C. L. Hanson said...

Hey Jen!!!

Interestingly, my younger son actually plays the Lego games as games. But he also uses the pieces as ordinary building pieces. As long as they're sorted, it's easy to use them for both! :^)

Unknown said...

Was' up Donna. Nice to CU here. I dunno buddy...there is nothing wrong with bieng organized, right(?). Awesomeness.

Kriss

Ben said...

I don't know what it is about playing Legos as an adult but I feel compelled to do exactly the same thing before I try to build anything substantial.

I started sorting our Legos a couple years ago. After what must have been weeks of sorting, John showed up at my house with more Legos! By then my living room had been nothing but tupperware and Legos for so long that we needed it back before I could finish.

Your post inspired me to finish the job!

This time around though, my first step was to clear out a storage room in our basement that I can dedicate to Legos. Now that's done and I'm a few days in to sorting.

It's going to be so great when it's all done!

C. L. Hanson said...

Hey Ben!!!

That's so cool -- I can't wait to see your collection!

tonyeewu said...

good