I am sharing my Lego love with the next generation.

I collect Lego sets. It’s one of those things about me that makes me who I am. I’ve accepted this. My wife has accepted this. Everyone is fine with the fact that I collect Lego sets.

But there are problems with Lego set collecting.

• I would always like more Lego sets.
• I don’t have enough room to display the Lego sets that I currently own.
• My children are a bit young to fully appreciate Lego.

And so, once my kids were born, my Lego sets have been banished to the far-flung (and out-of-reach) places in the outer depths of my house. I peek in every now and again to make sure that everyone is happy. I even add to my collection from time to time. But once the set it put together, I place it with the others, store the box in the attic, and leave it be.

My wife and I made this beautiful glass-top table a few years ago. Yeah, there’s a table down there somewhere.

A Kingdom series guard surveys the tabletop land of Vikings and dragons.

The Lego Realm has slowly been taking over the nearby bookshelves.

What started as just the top of the bookshelves for the larger sets has spilled over to the lesser bookshelves below.

The Dragon Emperor approves of his child-free domain.

The Mad Scientist gleefully plays God against a backdrop of literature.

But my kids are getting older. And while it might have once been true that they saw my Lego collection as a colorful feast of bite-sized plastic, I think they know better now.

You see, I’ve been getting them hooked slowly on gateway toys like Quatro blocks (4x the size of normal Lego) and then Duplo blocks (2x the size of normal Lego). So I think they have a taste for awesomeness.

Now, I have a choice to make. I can bring my Lego sets in, fully assembled, and hope that they will play with them as is (knowing full well that this will never happen). Or I can take everything apart and introduce them to a box of possibilities, with which they can make their own sets (as I did when I was their age).

I am choosing the latter. Let them stretch their imaginations as I learn to stretch my love of Lego to include them inside. It’s a good thing that I love my kids more than almost anything else (I’m looking at you, my beautiful wife).

Soon, this box will be filled with my Lego collection.

My childhood Lego stuff has been languishing hidden in this old popcorn tin.

The tin had rusted shut, preserving my childhood inside.

Here’s the collection so far, without dismantling any of the assembled sets from the out-of-reach Lego realm seen earlier.

Among my childhood Lego stuff, I happen across two of my favorite robot creations. I think the one with the red eyes may have been evil.

My daughters await the opportunity to help me dismantle the sets so we can add them to the bin.

Hard at work, taking pieces apart.

Another gratuitous shot of my girls and my Lego stuff.