Koen,
A lot of what I write I figure you’ll have no idea what I’m talking about by the time you read this. You might be at an age now where you do remember some things, but I’m hoping this is one you’ll read and say, “huh. Well that must have been a passing thing.”
Because now that we’re in it, it’s not been my favorite thing. As the title suggests — this post is about magnatiles.
Magnatiles
Magnatiles are these little magnetic plastic shapes that lock together and allow you to build structures. On the surface, it’s actually an enjoyable thing. There is this satisfaction when the magnets click together just so. I love seeing you be creative and come up with your own little building. You build roads and rooms, basketball hoops and swimming pools. Then, you like to get some matchbox cars and play out little scenarios and situations. Again, it’s all imaginative and I think it’s a great thing for your brain.
“So Dad, what’s the problem with magnatiles?”
Let me answer your question by offering you a hypothetical situation. Lets say your favorite food is pizza. So you go through life never having had a slice of pizza, then one day you try it and you love it. You eat pizza and you’re so happy. Then you have a hot dog or some nuggets, and a few days later, you think to yourself, “I could really go for some pizza again.”
All normal things, right?
But then you have pizza one day for lunch one day, and decide you’re going to have it again for dinner. Leftovers, right? Then, the next morning, you look in the fridge and all there is inside is pizza, so you have it for breakfast. I mean, you’re hungry so you’re going to eat it, but some eggs or pancakes sound a little better. Still love pizza, but you kind of feel like you like pizza MORE when it’s not all there is.
Now, imagine how you feel about pizza, and your friend comes over and wants to stay with you for a few days. And he loves pizza EVEN MORE than you do. He wakes you up in the morning and, before breakfast, he wants to eat pizza. You go to school, and he comes with your dad to pick you up from his school, and before you even get back to the car, he wants you to eat pizza with him as soon as you get home. Pretty soon, you need to start setting some limits on how much pizza you can eat in a day. Then, you say to your friend, “listen, buddy. I need a little bit of space from pizza today. You’re more than welcome to eat some pizza by yourself.”
But he refuses. He only likes eating pizza with you. You suggest maybe trying to eat some pizza with mom instead, but he doesn’t want to eat pizza with mom. He doesn’t want to eat pizza with any of his other friends, or his brother, or anyone else. But he loves it so much he doesn’t want to do anything else. And he says things to you like, “if you don’t eat pizza with me, I’ll never be happy again. If you don’t eat pizza with me, I’m going to come out of my room at night and I won’t go to sleep and I’ll keep coming out of my room.”
You feel trapped. You feel like even when you eat pizza with your friend, and you ate the agreed amount of pizza that would make your friend happy, he throws a fit when your alarm goes off and you tell him it’s time to be done eating pizza.
You found the only way to get him to let you walk away from the pizza is to make a video of him describing the pizza. You found this out when you were in Orlando. You were wrapping up at your Uncle Jeff and Aunt Katie’s house, and were heading over to your grandma’s house while your parents went to play golf. You and your friend made this really cool pizza, but you had to take it apart so you could take the pieces of the pizza with you. So your friend made you take a video of the pizza while he described all the parts of the pizza, and what was going through his mind when he was making the pizza.
So now, anytime he’s done eating pizza, he needs you to video him talking about the pizza, how this side of the crust is a car wash and over here by this pepperoni is the swimming pool. And if you lift this tomato up, it’s where the cars sleep…
Now, do you like pizza as much as you used to? Do you still find it a creative outlet for your friends imagination? Do you wish that sometimes, he just said, “you know what, Koen? I could go for a burger tonight.”
Oh, and Reagan… it’s becoming the same thing with you and kites.
Love you boys.
Dad
Leave a Reply