My kid said my cardboard castle was 'too perfect'

My 8 year old told me last weekend that my castle looked like a store bought kit. She said it didn't look like a fort because there were no tape wrinkles or crooked windows. That hit weird because I spent 4 hours making straight cuts with an X-Acto knife. She wanted the wobbly, messy forts we built when she was 5. Has anyone else had their kid reject the polished version for the ugly one?

2 comments

2 Comments

grantl941mo ago

Oh man, I heard some child psychologist on a podcast say kids actually learn more from messy, imperfect play because it feels more "real" and buildable to them. Sounds like your kid just wants a castle that feels like theirs, not something too clean.

wesley_hart1mo ago

Dude it's a pile of blocks on the floor lol. A little kid isn't sitting there analyzing whether their castle is "imperfect" or "messy" enough for optimal brain development. They just want something that doesn't fall apart when they sneeze on it. Half the time they're just happy knocking everything over and calling it a day. I get that play matters but sometimes people overthink this stuff way too hard. It's a castle made of plastic bricks not a philosophy lecture.