Before we answer the question, Michael and I would like to shjare something.
We liked discussing the writing prompt about road trips, and when I read the favorite toy question, my mind drew a blank.
Michael’s didn’t.
“Didn’t you play with Lego?” he exclaimed.
“Of course,” I said.
“It was my favorite, and frankly, I could probably still build you a house if your desk wasn’t such a mess!”
“My desk is not a mess,” I said. “I just have lots of stuff on it.”
“Same shame,” he said.
“Shame? What shame? I’m proud of my desk. So, back to when we were kids, yeah, Lego. I had a lot of favorites, but if I had to pick just one, Lego would be pretty high on the list.”
“It’s at the top of my list,” Michael said emphatically.
We talked a bit more, and it seems we played differently. He built houses, and I did that too, but I would then act out scenes with people in them. Michael focused more on building, renovating, and fixing houses and other structures, although the “workers” did talk to each other about hammers, nails, and saws.
At the end of our conversation, Michael said, “I’m so glad I grew up before everything became so digital. I think kids should play with physical toys way more than they play video games, and I wouldn’t want young kids surfing the Internet on their parents’ phones, or God forbid, on their own devices. I might be old-fashioned, but even with supervision I just think kids should play with toys instead of tablets, phones, and other gadgets. You don’t need batteries to build a house, and Do Not Disturb isn’t an issue because your towering creation isn’t online. It’s front and center in the living room or playroom, right where it belongs, and of course you should ask your parents or older siblings to take pictures of the things you’ve made. You know, you could use a phone to do that, but there are still these cool things out there called cameras that used real film.”
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