I Had To Do It

I am so glad you decided not to paint the printer's tray/type case. It looks wonderful against the green of Simon's wall. That is a fantastic shade of green by the way. I bought a printer's tray earlier this year after seeing your photo display idea and while I haven't done anything with it yet I am definitely not considering giving it to my son and his Lego men (in fact, I made sure my son didn't see your previous post when you first came across the idea, I didn't want him getting any ideas!!). But now I think I might have to buy another printer's tray for that very purpose. Initially I thought I don't want to paint this great piece of history, but seeing how Simon's printer's tray works so well with the Lego men even in it's original state, I think my son might just be in luck!! Thank you for the inspiration, again...

Thank you for sharing your Monday story. I love the everyday stories you share.

Must be the day for meltdowns. I had to pick up my son from school today because he had a meltdown and was unable to transition back from the cool down room to class. I am glad that my son is not the one with meltdowns.

Our girls are in their 20's now, and mostly off on their own, but this post reminds me of when they were smaller... We didn't get a tv until our oldest was 5 & youngest 1, but finally bought one mostly to edit video we'd been shooting and for watching movies. It's always lived upstairs, in our bedroom, out of sight, out of mind, so it was an "event" to watch anything. The zombie/glazed eye thing happens so easily with screen time - whether tv or computer, and so hard to prevent without having some kind of limits... I remember how "bored" they'd become when screens were turned off, but after a period of "withdrawal" they'd start using their brains again, and figure how to entertain themselves once more. It's an ongoing struggle all parents get to deal with! Now, my youngest has a tv her grandparents gave her but it's not hooked to cable & the antennae doesn't seem to help, so it's used for just movies too. Our oldest uses her computer for tv & recently bought a Wii - but as a new full time college student, it doesn't seem to be a distraction since she's pulling in "A's" in most of her classes. Staying strong with screen time as kids I believe has made our girls aware of needing limits themselves. So keep up the good work everyone! It'll pay off!!

way to persist! we have talks from time to time with our 16.5 yr old about needing time away from stimulus (online video games), so don't think it will get easier with time. i love how you persevered, even though there was pushback, and were rewarded with some beautiful moments to capture as the day progressed.

[...] farm.  Now mind you this was in the late 70′s and early 80′s.  As I was reading  Ali Edward’s Blog this morning, she was telling about Simon’s meltdown over a Wii game (and of course other [...]

You might be interested in checking out a syndrome that is just beginning to be researched about users of video games called "game transfer phenomena". There was an article in the New York Times by Jesse Singal that talks about the research done which is being published in the "International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology and Learning" by Mark Griffiths, Angelica Ortiz de Gortari and Karin Aronsson. The research says that gaming could trigger "intrusive thoughts, sensations, impulses, reflexes, optical illusions and dissociations." Just saying there might be some down sides to too much video action!
Aloha, Kate

When my boys were young, they were allowed 30 minutes of gaming and 30 minutes of television per school day and on Saturday one hour each but none on Sunday. We would set a timer and if there was complaining when the timer went off, no playing tomorrow. It wasn't long before there was no complaining. As they got older they lobbied for one hour of whichever so that they could watch an hour long television program if they wanted to, but more often than not they gave up tv for gaming! Now they are grown and pretty well rounded, although there are times when they have marathon gaming or movie nights with friends. Bottom line - you know your children and what they can handle better than anyone. Hang in there - it's all worth it.

Hi Ali, I just have to ask where you got the poster of the mini figures, I can see just a bit of it off to one side of the top picture! I just re-did my sons room and have been looking for some cool pictures/posters to hang up and he would love that one!! I looked on the lego site and can't seem to find, so if you remember where you got it I would really appreciate the info! Thanks so much!!

thanks so much for sharing your day! it is easy for us blog readers to assume you have a perfect life without these moments. especially love how you all worked through it, still had dessert and ended the day on a sweet note :O) thanks for your honesty and reminder to find something to celebrate.

Love the lego figures in the tray.

Have you seen this Lego Photo a Day site: http://legomyphoto.wordpress.com/

Maybe Simon could start taking photos of his creations?

As for the Wii.. we have the same problem with the Xbox and are in fact having an XBox free month of May... which is especially hard when our son hasn't had the new Star Wars Lego game for long. But just tired of being asked all the time if he can go on it. We also do time limits on these things. Good to hear others ideas.

It is for this very reason (fits and meltdowns
when it is time to quit) that we enforce a
hard and fast rule with our game-loving 7
year old: no wii, ds, etc Monday through
Thursday (school afternoons and nights) and
Sunday no games after dinner. That is the
rule, he knows and expects it, and understands
that on school nights he needs to find other
ways to keep busy. But he comes home Friday
running from the bus ready to play!

Thanks for posting the difficult part of the day as well as the good. And thanks for bringing it around the end in the good category. :- )

Creeeeepppppeeer.......creeeeeppppppeeeerr.....one of our favorite Scooby episodes.......:)

Haha. I'm a regular reader of the Mondo Cherry blog (they are local to me) and I saw the white Lego storage idea too. It came the day after my husband found my son pulling things apart, to which he said to me "It's time to get him some Lego".

Maybe you could try a cup of popsicle sticks with "to do" prompts written on one end. It could be something for Simon to turn to when he doesn't know what else to do. And a kitchen timer for Wii time? We are far away from that stage - good luck!

I think all mothers particularly here you about the gaming thing. My arguement was if they are on for 30 mins or 3 hrs when they get off they are cranky, irritable and unappreciative of the fact that they have just been on there for 30 mins or 3 hrs. Mine two are allowed to play for 1 hr on a Friday and we set the timer. They must play a game that both kids can play on the screen, child friendly and when the timer goes off, the xbox goes off straight away and they both say "thanks mum". One week one of the batteries in the charger wasn't charged so they had to take turns, they were carrying on before they started, during and after to which I said, no x-box next Friday - it's meant to be fun, happy and a treat. James wants the star wars one now but I can see that it would be hard for him to wait a whole week to play it but that's the rules. Personally I hate all those games and anti-social type of things. When we go to my friends place at the coast they can play 10 pin bowling on the wii which is fun.

When we were kids there were no such things and we used to have to make up games like shops and we would make cash registers (kids don't know what these are really) and we would pretend we had a supermarket conveyer belt and place food cans and boxes and play for hours. The modern world does have a lot of conveniences and a lot of draw backs. Thanks for sharing Kathy A, Brisbane, Australia

Ali do not get rid of the Playmobil. My three kids who are now 23, 19, and 15 loved playing with all the different kinds of sets. They wouldn't let me get rid of it, they want me to save it for their children. I have it all packed away. Also I wanted to mention that we did not get a gaming system(Playstation,Wii, etc) until my oldest son was 10 or 11. This worked great on two levels, by this time they developed good playing habits and the maturity was there. I did not let my youngest play until he was 11, and he really had no interest because he loved playing with all things animal related.

Oh wow...we are having the same behaviors related to Wii these days...and specifically Pirates. But my 9 yo doesn't have the game yet...so his meltdowns are over the fact that we won't drop everything and go to GameStop. Sigh.

Hi Ali! Thanks for keeping it real on here!

I amnot sure if anyone mnentioned this but I am almost positive the photo display item is not a type case. This may be why you are having a challenge finding another one.

I learned how to handset cold type back in the day (high school graphics program!) and cold type cases would not have all same size compartments. You simply need more space for e's than you do for q's, so the sections are different sizes.

I wish I could think what your photo display item would be called, because then maybe you could google it and find a source for another one. But it is stumping me. It is definitely type-drawer "inspired."

Hi! I realy love your stamp handwrithing and your ideas but i am a french canadien and i would like too know if some day you think making french word stamps. thank you