This is not messaging that Lego sends directly. It’s messaging that is implied. The message is no longer “build anything you can imagine,” it is “buy set X to build thing X.” Of course, as a parent, I can provide lots of general purpose bricks. Of course, as a parent, I can show them how to build things that they imagine. Of course I can control these things. What makes me angry is that I am fighting the toymaker, not working with them. A whole generation of parents worked in harmony with Lego. Lego was a set of versatile bricks and the kids could build anything they could imagine. Parents and the company were in sync. Now, it is in Lego’s best interest for kids to acquire as many different sets that cannot be combined particularly usefully and it is parents' and kids' best interests to do the opposite. Parents must counter the message that “the way to build thing X is to buy set X.” We have to send the opposite message: “You can build thing X with the bricks that you have and a bit of imagination.” That is why I hate Lego. My kids love it and I’m forced to fight it. I see myself forced in to a few different corners:
I can be the sugardaddy, buying everything they ask for
I can be the bad guy who says “no” when they want new sets
I can buy general purpose bricks at extortionate prices to supplement the useless special pieces
I can try to work with them and learn how to build something interesting from all the strange, single-function, oddly-shaped pieces
I do not have the option that my parents had: buy a few lego sets and watch a kid’s natural imagination and creativity do the rest.
