Do you ever think your getting too old for LEGO?

MaxiVisVires · Post by **MaxiVisVires** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 6:22 pm

Hate to double post, but a saying just popped in my head that fits well here.

"What seperates the men from the boys is the size of their toys"

Well, I'm pretty sure some of the stuff you see here defines that, don't you agree?

Tristram · Post by **Tristram** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:52 pm

I'm seeing that there are a great many of you, if not all of you, that are very comfortable with who you are, and that's awesome. That's the way it should be.

My wife helps me build stuff once in awhile. She kinda digs my hobby. She thinks they're cute. Add the fact that for the most part, the sets are small and easily broken down, meaning they don't take over the house, but can be displayed in small areas, she pretty much encourages me to pursue my Lego hobby.

My older son is in high school, and his dark age has already begun. My younger son is just getting into Lego (Duplo) and I look forward to when we can really do this together.

You build. You create. You solve sometimes complicated obstacles in order to build something just right. It feeds your brain, I think. Keeps the mind active. You're never too old for Lego.

Post by **Robin Hood** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 8:09 pm

Can't say as I have ever been told I was too old. My parents kinda resigned themselves to a life with Lego when their seventh child (my little sister) got her first few sets and liked them. So far it is only my one older sister who has stopped Legoing. Occasionally, my mom or Dad will kinda sigh, but they have accepted who I am (a Lego fanatic). Still, Mom did have some odd thoughts about Lego back in the day. Like when Mike got his second castle, Mom suggested that he give his first to me! I laughed well then.

Friends, not at all. Being homeschooled all my life limits my peer pressure. The other homeschoolers all had Lego too at one point, so they kinda know what I feel. I am the only person left who still does Lego, but my friends don't ridicule me. Rather, they are impressed and encouraging.

Dan

Sire Forrest · Post by **Sire Forrest** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:51 am

I don't think any butty is too old for legos. However old or young you are you can still billed. There are men in there 30s that play with legos.

cnelson · Post by **cnelson** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:29 pm

I get the odd snicker and chuckle when people find out that I still play with Lego--then I show them what I'm working on and the usual response is something along the lines of "That's not what I expected. That's really cool!" People always seem to expect some dinky creations rather than something well-conceived and well-built...

BTW Bruce, C. S. Lewis was referring to Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, "When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things." We ALEs* realize that the childish things are not the Lego bricks and plates, so we do not use them in childish ways, but in ways that instruct, enlighten, challenge, and satisfy.

People always seem to recognize accomplishment, regardless of whether they consider the pursuit geeky. When I started high school, I was mortally afraid that someone would discover that I was in Boy Scouts. When I earned my Eagle Scout, it was in the local paper and the principal saw it and said it over the intercom to the entire school during morning announcements. I was about to crawl under my desk and hide. Then a funny thing happened--all day long, people were coming up to me and offering congratulations. I never heard one negative comment about it!

Carl

*And those younger-than-"legal"-adults on this board and in the hobby who build, think, and communicate more maturely than many adults I know and in many cases are far better builders than I

Post by **Bruce N H** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 3:18 pm

cnelson wrote:BTW Bruce, C. S. Lewis was referring to Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians,

Hey Carl,

Yes, that is the scriptural allusion, but it was in an essay on children's literature. Lewis' basic argument was that anything worth reading as a child is even more worth reading as an adult, and anything that is not worth reading as an adult probably wasn't worth reading as a child anyway, and he argues against the categorization of certain types of literature for children only. Here is the fuller quote, from "On Three Ways of Writing for Children":

Critics who treat adult as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being an adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

BTW, another very similar thought comes through in his dedication of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe:

MY DEAR LUCY,

I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realised that girls grow up quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand, a word you say, but I shall still be

your affectionate Godfather,

C.S.LEWIS”

I quote these not because I'm a rabid Lewis fan (well, okay, maybe I am), but because I think you could take out the words "book" and "story" above and insert the word "LEGO" and you'd essentially sum up the whole "You're too old to play with LEGO" thing, IMO. Also, the second quote is a lovely description of someone's descent into, and return from, their Dark Ages.

Bruce

Loneranger · Post by **Loneranger** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 4:09 pm

I have gotten that comment, but it's rare. most adults/children just think it's really cool that I build with lego, my entire family supports me in my hobby, and even gives me advice on designs for different MOCs. My dad is even getting into LEGO, and my brothers, we shall see.

But what about girls? what do they say? They think it's amazing and really cool that I build things with LEGO, even there Mom's just think it's amazing.

I would think I'd get more "aren't you to old for LEGO?" comments, but I don't.

LR

HenrytheV · Post by **HenrytheV** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 4:14 pm

Some people think that I'm too old for Lego. Ocassionally my parents think that I spend too much on Lego, but I have a job and that money is budgetted for Lego. Recently some friends of mine sold their whole Lego collection for some paintball guns and then wondered why I was a little mad at them. Some people think my stuff isn't that good, ut I don't care if people say I'm too old for Lego, because they're wrong.

There are no people in my town (other than my little brothers) who like Lego. Probably my proudest achievement was when the dishwasher repairman saw my castle and thought it was cool.

I think that Lego is a great building block for engineering, computer programming and aeronautical engineers. Because of this, for school I'm taking an Autocad course, a Visual Basic course, a space history course and a course in engineering.

Like some of the other people here, I too am a homeschooler and because of this, I don't have many friends (except online). I still like being a Lego fan, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

HenrytheV

After a long and exhausting rant.

TheBohrok · Post by **TheBohrok** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:22 pm

Thankfully, I have not been discouraged from pursuing LEGO as a hobby; nor have I entered a Dark Age. Like some (actually, a lot!) here, I was home-schooled my whole life until I began college this year. As a result, I did not have to put up with the peer pressure that would almost certainly have been too strong to resist in high school to give up on LEGO. The only negative comment that I can remember is from my mom. She says that I have too much.

In a way, she is right because my room is getting crammed. I envy you who have your own LEGO room!

Graynar · Post by **Graynar** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:42 pm

I don't want to flow off topic but here goes;

After reading many replies I feel quite sad. Why do people pick on LEGO fans? Are they jealous that we still play with a toy that they think is intended for little kids? Or maybe they just never got the chance to sit down and experience the greatness of LEGO, and took their anger out on us.

I hope that all of us never stop building with LEGO because we think or have been told we're too old for LEGO.

It is a great toy, and we should cherish it, because it reminds us of what it's like to be a kid.

Graynar

Lord_Of_The_LEGO · Post by **Lord_Of_The_LEGO** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 11:51 pm

Graynar wrote:I don't want to flow off topic but here goes;

After reading many replies I feel quite sad. Why do people pick on LEGO fans?

People pick on other people no matter their hobby: LEGO, Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord Of The Rings, Model Trains, Knitting, Painting, Bottle Cap Collecting, you name it.

It's just one of Those Things(TM).

Post by **Robin Hood** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 12:16 am

Lord_Of_The_LEGO wrote:People pick on other people no matter their hobby: LEGO, Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord Of The Rings, Model Trains, Knitting, Painting, Bottle Cap Collecting, you name it.

Funny, everthing you just named I have dabbled in at one point or another.

Graynar wrote:I don't want to flow off topic but here goes;

After reading many replies I feel quite sad. Why do people pick on LEGO fans?

Just like Nathan said, everybody gets picked on. No matter what their hobby. For that matter, people get pick even if there is no hobby. The world at large just loves to pick on each other.

Dan

Post by **JoshWedin** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 2:10 am

Sire Forrest wrote:There are men in there 30s that play with legos.

Yup, I can attest to that. Even us old 30 year olds play with Lego. In fact, my mother-in-law, who is in her sixties plays with Lego when she visits and she still gets me Lego as presents. How cool is that? And last year, my mom complained that her Lego collection (mostly for the kids) didn't have enough baseplates. So I had to get her some. Must encourage her building...

Josh

PS.

Sire Forrest wrote:I don't think any butty is too old for legos.

Lots of comments come to mind here, butt I am restraining myself...

The Brick Rat · Post by **The Brick Rat** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 5:02 am

I bought my very first LEGO set (6249 Pirates Ambush) on clearance when I was age 37. I'm now 44 and still not too old to play with LEGO.

Ken

cnelson · Post by **cnelson** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 12:56 pm

Bruce N H wrote:I quote these not because I'm a rabid Lewis fan (well, okay, maybe I am), but because I think you could take out the words "book" and "story" above and insert the word "LEGO" and you'd essentially sum up the whole "You're too old to play with LEGO" thing, IMO. Also, the second quote is a lovely description of someone's descent into, and return from, their Dark Ages.

Thanks for the quotes Bruce--Lewis can say with a sentence what I couldn't communicate in a paragraph!

Ultimately, I don't know if I would have pursued the course that I have--engineering school, computer science/math degree, programming job--had I not been given a toy from the Old Country for my third birthday, that turned out to be so much more than a toy...

Carl