Playing well during the social chaos at the Mall of America

One of our favorite places to go to as a family is the Mall of America. We usually walk around without an agenda. I thoroughly enjoy "people watching" and conducting my very own amateur social experiments. I always leave having gained great insight into how human beings act, respond and meander about their lives.

We generally spend a hefty amount of time at LEGOLand - Isaiah's favorite place in the mall. He picks the station with the fewest distractions, climbs on top of the table and sticks his feet in the mix of LEGOS while he focuses on building tower after tower. I love watching him put his mind to something and begin to realize the creative juices inside of him. LEGOLand is a lot of fun. With all of that said, I have this strange suspicion that there are definitely a set of very clear unwritten rules and guidelines that every child and parent must follow during their time creating miss-matched towers. Today, a 14-year old boy (I'm assuming he was 14 as he was bigger than me) had been carousing every station looking for specific pieces to bring to the fortress he was constructing.

Side note: I think said individual is already in breach of these rules, or code, if you will. When the intellectual capacity of the individual reaches the point of understanding there are certain pieces made by the LEGO Group needed to complete the latest recreation of Lancelot's castle, you've probably outgrown the LEGOLand play area in the Mall of America.

Compared to his counterparts, this boy looked like a giant - literally. And he walked up to the station occupied by my first born son and took the figurine that resembled a firefighter. Isaiah quickly reached for it, but he was too late. He said, "hey, I want that." The bully snapped back and said, "well, I'm using it." WHAT?!?!?!?

I thought to myself, did that just happen? After surveying the situation and looking at my 3-year old son crying and saying he wanted to firefighter, I concluded that, yes, it actually did just happen. An awkward teenage boy stole LEGOS from my 3-year child...WTF (censored)? Of course, I took the high road, even though I wanted to throw down under the shadow of Woody and the Hero-Bot 9000 and give this kid a "dirt nap," and did my best to create a teachable moment and explain to Isaiah the idea of conflict management and sharing. Whatever, he just wanted the firefighter. I should have told Isaiah that, at 3, he'd get more middle school girls than that kid, but I'm fresh off a few blogs that held me accountable on that one.

Thinking about those few blogs, I witnessed another great and teachable moment in Banana Republic. Isaiah took a liking to a mannequin in a brown skirt and bright orange sweater. Much to my surprise, he was trying to lift the skirt of the female mannequin and I joked, "Isaiah, you cannot do that until you're married." "But I want to play with her," he said. Of course, he wasn't thinking of anything sexual; he sincerely wanted to play. Feeding off the situation, I told him he has to first hold her hand if he wants things to go any further. He turned to Liz and said, "Mommy, I want her to hold me." Liz had enough and said, "Isaiah, she's not real and she doesn't even have a head." Exactly! Mom, welcome to the world of raising boys. Chivalry doesn't come naturally, we must teach our boys how to value women.

**********

Did you know the name 'LEGO' is an abbreviation of the two Danish words "leg godt", meaning "play well"? It’s been the name and ideal of the founder of LEGO Group, Kirk Kristiansen, since 1932. Today, Isaiah "played well" even if others didn't. Good for him.