Am I a Bad Mom if I Hate Legos?

December 26th, 2011, posted by Aimee

One week at home from work with my son out of school and little on the agenda. Shouldn’t I be jumping for joy right now, eagerly anticipating a boatload of quality time and fun mother-son activities? Theoretically, that should be the case, of course. From someone like me who is constantly whining in this column and offline about how little time I get with my little dude, this should be the dream come true … and it would be if only there weren’t one small, complicating factor: Legos.

As I sit across the room from a hulking box filled with my son’s Christmas present – the 3200+ piece “Death Star” Lego set that represents every young boy’s wildest dream … and every parent’s worst nightmare – I am actually filled with anxiety about how I will survive the next few days after my husband goes back to work.

That’s right. Like guilt-ridden working moms everywhere, I caved in to that idiotic need to overcompensate for lost time with outrageously expensive and indulgent gifts at the holidays, including a Lego set technically made for 14-year-olds. Somehow I forgot to think through the hell of dealing with Tav’s frustration and need for “help” in assembling that monstrosity for days and weeks on end. Somehow, when I envisioned this week of “vacation,” I never pictured myself wading through a sea of colored bricks and trying to decipher pages of cryptic instructions for hours upon hours.

That’s right, I said it. I hate Legos. Sure, I understand “they’re great” for kids’ development and fine motor skills, yada yada. It’s just mind-numbingly boring for me to build and help build with them.

Actually, there are very few indoor activities favored by 4 ½ year old boys that really float my boat. Building marble mazes? Ugh. Having Pokemon battles? Not so much. Playing soccer, riding bikes, jumping on trampolines, hell, even catching lizards would be much more up my alley than building anything made of small pieces or involving foreign anime characters. But unfortunately, it’s December and it seems that my son is not interested much in any of those old school outdoor activities anyway even in the warm months.

Of course, hating all of these boy playtime activities feeds right back into my guilt again. If I were a better mom, wouldn’t I actually enjoy building stuff with my boy? Why don’t I love playing with him as much as it seems like other moms do? If I had a girl and she wanted to play Barbies with me would I be more interested? Or is it just because he’s an only child and lacks a sibling to entertain him? Oh god, one more thing to feel guilty about. Those of you with girls, fill me in. Is playing more fun or still a drag?

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