So we had quite the morning today. I know this picture exudes peace and calm but the process of building the structure pictured here was nothing like it. In fact the construction in this photo was probably the fourth or fifth version of its kind before I managed to quickly snap these few shots before it disappeared yet again. Let me explain.

Miss 2 is very particular when it comes to her creations. She likes things done a certain way, all in a certain pattern or all in a colour for instance. So several times while building, she’d realise that there’s a “mistake” that needs to be fixed, a colour or a piece not where she wanted it to be for instance, and she’d attempt to fix it. Of course, in her limited 2yo’s understanding, her attempts at fixing included trying to pull out pieces right in the middle of the structure so as to put the “right” one in and as you can so imagine, that did not end very well. The structure collapsed repeatedly and tears of frustration and disappointment came and meltdowns ensued.

A very common occurrence here in our household over the tiniest things these days and my solution has been to ask her over and over again “Is it a problem that can be fixed? Do you think you can fix it?” She’d say yes and together we’d attempt to rebuild it.

I share all this to say, more than anything else (creativity, imagination, ability to build beautiful structures like this), I want her to learn problem-solving, resilience, perseverance, mental strength to face setbacks, the ability to pick herself up when she falls and understanding that failure is not the final destination.

p.s. on a different note, how darling are the two tiny peg dolls hanging out together in the yellow balcony at the top? as cute as they are, they were the cause of some of the tears because narrow balcony, small dolls, toddler’s insistence of putting both up there 😅

p.p.s. Magnetic tiles are Playmags available from The Creative Toy Shop

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