It isn't that I don't enjoy playing with them. Want to go on a treasure hunt? Sure! Want to pretend that you are a monster and chase us around? Sounds fun! Want to play with my Lego men and pretend that you are the bad guy and I'm the hero? Um...no. Why don't I just turn the tv on for you sweetie.
Right now, playing with Lego men means that I stand my Lego man in one place while Jem defeats him by plowing into him. There is no back story, nothing beyond "I win. You lose." And really? How long can that go on? After two minutes I can feel my brain shutting down, waving goodbye and saying, "Well, if you don't need me..."
I know that at some point, their pretend play will become more involved. I remember playing with barbies and G.I. Joes and he-man (I had an older brother). There would be elaborate scenarios of danger and rescue. Epic battles were fought and undying love was sworn. But that won't happen for them until they are older. (The undying love thing probably won't happen at all. I have a feeling that might be mostly a girl thing.) So for now, it means that playing with the Lego men is a fairly uncomplicated thing, one that I do not enjoy.
It's quite possible that this is another place in my parenting journey where I can mark myself down as sub-par. Maybe I'm supposed to be completely engaged with the Lego men. Maybe I'm supposed to enjoy it simply because my child does. But that isn't how I think parenting works. I will continue to play with the Lego men because my child asks me to and because I know that he enjoys it. However, I think it might be okay that I'm not really a fan. I'm not a fan of scrubbing toilets but I do that once a week. I'm not a fan of driving a mini-van but I do that every single day. There are some things that I simply have to do, not because I love doing them but because I love my family. And that has to count for something.
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