Advice Needed

thebeermonkey

My 1 year old Daughter started nursery this week. Every day when we pick her up, the nursery give us a little written update on how her day went, what she had to eat etc. When she was picked up today, the nursery gave us the update. I've just had a look at it. I think it is time to get some of the Duplo that I've bought her out of the attic.

Should I disown my Daughter, banish her to the naughty step or let her off this time? ;-)

bandit778

Take her to a better class of establishment, you can't blame the child if dodgy tools are provided.
;)

SumoLego

Did they actually mean Mega Bloks?  Sometimes civilians mean on thing and write another.

Or, you need to source some Quatro from eBay...

ecmo47

Just a case of bad parenting. Need to step up your game there, pops, and train her right! 

Toc13

Supply the nursery with a better quality block?
(Thankfully, I've only seen Duplo where my daughter goes....Although quite a bit less than there is at home :-D )

AllBrick

My boy is kind of into it, more about being a dinosaur, cars and running around like a loon with some other boys.

I have had a word with his nursery regarding my love of Danish building blocks, tomorrow I get to rummage through their stock and trade for bits I need :).

Time to email her nursery this link as a hint...

http://brickset.com/sets/theme-Education/subtheme-Duplo

redarmy

Is a 1 year old too young for an 'intervention'?...she needs ber family too close ranks around her and keep her on that 'righteous path'...

Bobkov

Look at it this way; they know the difference between MB and "big Legos"

Yodalicious

We all have those days when we feel like we've failed as a parent...

BillyBricks84

It could just be that she was playing with some really large wooden blocks and the person writing the note wanted to avoid using one of my new president's favorite words: huge.

SprinkleOtter

BillyBricks84 said:

It could just be that she was playing with some really large wooden blocks and the person writing the note wanted to avoid using one of my new president's favorite words: huge.

They're bigly blocs, okay.

masterX244

Or (saw that once at some other location) they only got the inferior brands available so its either crap or nothing...

GallardoLU

most of the poorly-informed of my family look at mega blocks, and Duplo as 100% all mega blocks, because... they are like regular blocks but mega..... :/ then of course when I point out that Duplo are in fact Lego and Mega blocks are a separate company they stare at me like I just told them that their car is made of the finest cheeses in Wyoming.

Fauch

masterX244 said:

Or (saw that once at some other location) they only got the inferior brands available so its either crap or nothing...

I went back to the toy library a few years ago for board games and it was pretty weird to recognize a lot of the toys from like 15 years before. I also spotted a tray of lego, and it must have been stuff from the 70's or 80's, I think there was a classic space crater plate.
it also makes me think when you go to the doctor and they have that crate of toys in the waiting room which must have been there for 50 years.

MAGNINOMINISUMBRA

Reminds of my boys 5th or 6th birthday party. He was given a KREO Bumblebee by one of his mates. Gave the present half a shake, went "Woohoo - LEGO!", then, upon unwrapping it, gave his mates mum a bewildered look and said "We don't have fake stuff in our collection".  The missus was horrified, I TRIED to look concerned (while secretly being quite proud) and proceedings were rushed along at light speed! Needless to say a discussion about gratitude (even when IT was fake) and politeness were had later that evening...

monkeyhanger

^ Had a similar situation at my 5th birthday party when my aunty Jean gave me a Worzel Gummidge annual. I didn't hide my lack of appreciation (hated Worzel, but it was always on the telly as my sister iked it) and got sent to my room for an hour at my own party, but managed to sneak out if the house instead and play with the kids in the street that I hadn't invited to the party.

Oldfan

I take a slightly non-purist approach:  My daughter had a bag of giant MB when she was an infant, and we're passing them on to my 8-month-old son now.  At this young age, even the Duplo is a little hard to assemble (my oldest didn't really get how to do it until she was about 3 years old), and the large MB are a little easier for the younger one to handle.

Besides, at 8 months old, there is no building going on, it's either banging the bricks together or trying to stuff them into his mouth.  Aside from avoiding the potential choking hazard from the relatively smaller Duplo bricks, I'd much rather have him chew up all the MB instead of the quality Duplo bricks!  And rest assured, as soon as he is ready to build and play rather than try to eat everything in sight, the MB are in the give-away pile, never to be seen in the house again...

AllBrick

Here's my haul from my sons nursery rummage today...


It's all quite well used, just adds to the charm really. Swapped it for the load of Duplo track I had in the marketplace.

I have personally been the perpetrator in both @monkeyhanger and @MAGNINOMINISUMBRA stories.

Someone gave me a bike once, I was expecting something better. Needless to say that due to my reaction, I was given a jolly good talking to that day.
And, for my 11th or 12th Birthday I had been asking for a Megadrive (Genesis) quite badly and was fully expecting it. Ripped off the wrapping..... Master System :/

MaffyD

My brother always gives my six year old Kre-o instead of Lego, imagining that he doesn't notice the difference, and you get more pieces for your money. It is a small matter of pride that he never mentions this to my brother, and after they've gone says to me "Dad, I know it isn't real Lego, but maybe your brother doesn't know the difference. I don't want him to get sad. Can we build it now?!"

We have two boxes where we put away construction toys. One has Lego in it, the other has stuff my brother bought.

They are in different rooms. Always. :-)

PS: The vibration function on some of the Kre-o sets is actually really cool, and works. Just FYI.

CCC

Did you take a look at what she was playing with? If it was the really big megabloks (which it could well be given a 1 year old) I don't see a problem.  This stuff ...



My kids played with those from about 6 months through to about 3 years old. They had duplo from 2 years old, but found it much easier to build with the megabloks than duplo. The bricks just fall into each other without needing to be clicked together. At that age, it is better that they can build easily and enjoy it, rather than get frustrated by not being able to put duplo or lego together.

 

Odeinoichus

I suppose it's just regional or something, I have a large LEGO Collection and I enjoy it quite immensely. If I had any kids I'd let them play with whatever they wanted, and would inform them that there is a difference in the bricks, but it isn't just about quality.

I have a small growing Mega Bloks collection of items that they make which LEGO does not, because I enjoy those franchises, since LEGO lost the TMNT license I only have Mega to go to, and I freely admit that Monster High is a huge draw because of how purely hilariously fun it is.

I am of course Canadian and support Canadian made products, which Mega Corporation is. All of that being said and tongue-in-cheek firmly understood. Isn't 1 years old a bit young to be worrying about LEGO purity? Especially as, while there are really shitty clone brands out there, Mega is quite a different kettle of fish and their products are pretty decent quality, almost on-par with LEGO these days.

Ah well, maybe I'll understand better if I ever get a significant other and have children.

SprinkleOtter

PS: The vibration function on some of the Kre-o sets is actually really cool, and works. Just FYI.

Could make for some... interesting... models.

PeteM

CCC said:

Did you take a look at what she was playing with? If it was the really big megabloks (which it could well be given a 1 year old) I don't see a problem.  This stuff ...



My kids played with those from about 6 months through to about 3 years old. They had duplo from 2 years old, but found it much easier to build with the megabloks than duplo. The bricks just fall into each other without needing to be clicked together. At that age, it is better that they can build easily and enjoy it, rather than get frustrated by not being able to put duplo or lego together.

 

Yep - something similar was my daughter's first foray into construction toys as a tester to see if she'd 'get it' before going full out with the pricier Duplo. Needless to say she did - she's now 3, owns with a shed-load of Duplo and a growing Lego collection, while the Megablocks are safely segregated up in the loft :)

Switchfoot55

^That is the exact bag I was given by a family member for my son nearly 5 years ago. He was enamored with the building concept. We actually jumped straight from those to Lego. 

My daughter, who is now 20 months, has spent the last several months playing with these blocks as well. My parents just received a massive box of Duplo blocks too that she can't stop playing with. 

Looks like some Friends sets will be in order for her birthday!

Yodalicious

I'll echo what most others have said. We have a massive tub of those larger Mega Blocks. My 18-month-old loves them because they are easier for him to put together. And even my 4.5-year-old plays with them from time to time because of the size of the structures he can make. It's much easier to make a headquarters for the Titan-sized Avengers toys out of those than out of LEGO.

vizzitor

All of you who are admitting to having Mega Bloks in your houses or near the vicinity of your houses need to take stock, admit you have a problem and take the first steps in ridding yourselves of this shame!

I was going to post a screenshot of the "Shame! Shame! Shame!" walk from Game of Thrones but I think a nudey picture is a bit much on a forum for a children's toy.

Bosstone100

I went went the Primo route. Now my son is almost six and I can't let those go.

Odeinoichus

vizzitor said:

All of you who are admitting to having Mega Bloks in your houses or near the vicinity of your houses need to take stock, admit you have a problem and take the first steps in ridding yourselves of this shame!

I was going to post a screenshot of the "Shame! Shame! Shame!" walk from Game of Thrones but I think a nudey picture is a bit much on a forum for a children's toy.

I respectfully disagree with your statement and substitute my own.

LEGO is not the only building block/construction toy in the world that has value. They are the forerunner I'll grant you, but to only buy LEGO is doing a disservice to folks who prefer alternatives to their plastic brick buying, or simply ignoring the fact that LEGO still has flaws in their price-per-piece ratios and the like.

Mega Bloks have evolved from the old days of Clone Brand status (if they ever were to begin with) and as such they have improved greatly, finding their own personal niche. Halo alone is something LEGO would never allow, the same with Call of Duty, Assassins Creed and other such Adult oriented war based franchises.

The sheer number of LEGO in my house is over 15 thousands bricks, probably over 100 thousand by this point. The fact that I have maybe 3 hundred Mega Bloks bricks and plan on getting more because I like how they look and the like is nothing against LEGO, it just shows that I'm open minded enough to see that not everything has to be one way or the other.

GallardoLU

@odeinoichus everyone has their own style, and you're well within your right to spend your cash on what ever product you feel warrants it. Mega bloks and the new Mega Construct lines I've never counted as clone, simple due to the fact that they went about it legally and have done a great job at finding their own identity.

I personally wont be buying Mega products in the foreseeable future due to the fact that I don't like mixing brands (color miss match will set off my OCD) and I can't logically spend money on a product I can't fully use like I would be able to with Lego products. this is likely where many people stand on this debate, too.

lastly we should probably deviate from this discussion as it will inevitably spiral out of control like every other thread once off topic.

datsunrobbie

I've got all sorts of blocks, some of them I haven't even figured out the brand. Grandson and I had great fun with the large Mega Bloks, which were much more plentiful locally than Quatro blocks. We got both Duplo and the Mega Blok and K'Nex equivalents, and all were popular for their licensed themes. They were somewhat compatible, but the basic bricks were just far enough off to be annoying. The bulk of our toy collection is Lego, but there are Mega Bloks Minions that also get played and displayed. K'Nex bricks are pretty terrible, but for building roller coasters and ferris wheels they make some great stuff that can play well with Lego. I'm not one to go looking for a Lepin clone, but if it showed up in the thrift store and I felt the price was good, I'd purchase it to prevent anyone looking strictly for Lego from being misled.
There's a lot of stuff in out toy collection that has gotten weeded out of the Lego collection - but it's all still part of the toy collection, where even slime and Lego mix (not as messy as I feared)

madforLEGO

Mega bloks are cheaper so it is more likely that places where they need large amount of toys, but not a large budget, will take megabloks every time.

MaffyD

SprinkleOtter said:

PS: The vibration function on some of the Kre-o sets is actually really cool, and works. Just FYI.

Could make for some... interesting... models.

You know, I thought about this joke too, thought about how to make it 'forum-friendly' and then left it well alone... glad you stepped up @SprinkleOtter :-)