Square Pegs in Round Holes

Round holes and square pegs is a more accurate term to describe Lego, but as this article demonstrates, six of one is half a dozen of the other and actions speak louder than words.

After reading about the author’s study of several children and their descriptions of Lego, I thought about the role of Lego in my own childhood. The plastic bricks were front and center for birthdays and Christmas and generally coated the floor of our playroom. I remember my dad receiving Lego in Jell-O and sand as jokes from relatives. My family had several suitcases of Lego, but my cousins had an entire Lego pit that could be turned into a double bed if necessary. Lego and its sibling Duplo are my parent’s favorite gifts to get their godchildren and a few years ago, to the amusement of my roommate, they sent me a Lego advent calendar. She posted pictures of the “hot fireman” I got from the kit on her Facebook.

(Photo courtesy Maggie Davis) "My roomie gets a advent calendar in the mail from her parents, right? It is not any ordinary calendar. Every day she gets a new Lego, isn't that awesome?! This would be her Dec. 1 and Dec. 2 prizes, look at the hot fireman! :)"

My brothers and I spent hours making houses, holiday scenes, castles, boats, and anything else we could think of. One of my brothers even made an entire Star Trek fleet out of Lego. We often built giant towers under our spiral staircase and dreamed of living in a Lego house. (Can people who live in Lego houses throw bricks?) However, the sad part was that we could not have our cake and eat it too. In order to build the next thing we had to wreck havoc on a previous piece. This was always particularly touchy when we needed a piece that someone else was using. Breaking someone else’s creation was like throwing down a gauntlet and eye-for-eye retaliation usually ensued.

For other Lego "battle stories" check out this blog.