If you’ve been following my blog (or if you know us in real life), you’d know that my husband has a thing for Lego.
Ok, that’s really putting it mildly. My husband has a real obsession with Lego. I mostly just tolerate this with a mix of mild amusement and despair. I suppose it could have been worse — at least little plastic toys are fairly harmless. Unless you step on them, that is.
Then I discovered Lego Friends. For you non-Lego junkies, it is, quite simply, girl Lego. Launched fairly recently and targeted at girls, it’s got girly-er figurines, comes in pastel candy-coloured hues, and is based on 5 characters, girls of course. The sets are mostly building related — a house, a vet, a beauty shop, a cafe, etc., depicting the town they live in, which is called Heartlake City.
When this was first launched there was some controversy and a whole lot of unhappiness, mostly in the US, about why girls had to be marketed to differently. Especially since Lego in its purest form is quite the ultimate gender-neutral toy. I could see where the angst was coming from. I would hate it if girls were only expected to play with girl Lego. But I also see it as a choice that we make as parents. We play a part in choosing the toys our kids play with.
Noey has actually been rather fascinated by the Lego Friends sets in the Lego catalogue. (Yes, the Lego catalogue is part of the regular reading material around our home.) So, I decided, in the name of gender equality, that there was no reason why he shouldn’t be playing with pink Lego sets. I mentioned this to my husband, and voila! He comes home — happily — with a big dollhouse.
I have to admit, I was as excited as Noey was to crack open the box and get started.
After a while, I took it over and told Noey it was my house though he could play with it, because I couldn’t stand how he was messing up all the pieces. And because, well, how cute is this??
So yes, I had a lot of fun with my girl Lego. Would I buy another one? I don’t see why not. These sets are pre-defined, but that doesn’t mean we have to be limited by that.
Case in point: Out of the blue, my son astutely asked me today in reference to the house: “Where are the stairs?” Indeed, where were the stairs, given that this was a two-storey house? I laughed and told him that we could build them tomorrow, the way it’s always been done, with some Lego bricks and a good dose of imagination.
So girly pretty! Is this out of bounds for Naomi? I'll whack Shin if she drew on this if ever we have it at home but am wondering how to prevent Shuo from ingesting the little bits!
I do keep Naomi away from it — I built it over a couple of days during her nap time. She loves to put EVERYTHING in her mouth so it really isn't safe around her. The good thing is that she know how to spit out hard stuff.
HOW CUTE!!!! <br />This totally reminds me of how I used to play with the lego sets( pri colours of cos!) , building homes and all!
I was always building homes with my lego too! I still try, with the random lego sets. This one's extra cool because of the rooms. My own versoins only ever had one huge space 🙂
He said no to a green kitchen set and comes back with a pink dollhouse! Very obviously lego-biased. But everyone's happy so what's not to love?<br /><br />I love the cat on the window ledge!!
Yes, it's only because it's Lego! Imagine if I suggested getting a Barbie dollhouse… Hah.<br /><br />The cat is very cute. D in fact wanted to get the vet set instead cos it had more animals.
I love the house! Feel like buying one for myself 🙂
it's so cool that you got this for noey! i've gotta remind myself not to stereotype and subconsciously steer my baby boy towards all the "tough" stuff.<br /><br />btw i've stepped on lego too many times. mega ouch!
Joce: You should! 😛 It is as much mine as it is Noey's.<br /><br />Evelyn: Yeah, I think boys can play with dollhouses too! I've always wanted to get Noey a toy kitchen but my husband thought it was too girly. Plus it takes up a lot of space, so he wasn't keen. But this house passed the test. Prob cos it's Lego!
pity my polly pocket sets which got lost during house moving!<br /><br />i'm so going to get these when we have our own place and declare them Mommy's toys! heehee.
Haha, yes, Mummy decides whether to allow the kids to play with it or not!
The lego dollhouse is so adorable! Now I need to convince my son that he should have one…