Things We Love: THE SIMPLE WOODEN BLOCK

I was re-reading one of my old posts the other day entitled ‘Missing Jack’, about his desire for seclusion. It makes me sad to read it because I remember how I was struggling to get Jack to connect with the rest of the family. What triggered that post was his 0% desire to be with our family during our weekly family meeting, which is supposed to be fun-ish and involve the whole group.

Weekly family meeting with Jack participating (over at the piano).

During our family meeting time, we expect our kids to sit and pay attention. I’ve thought of it as a “practice time” for sitting through quiet situations, such as church. Well, I guess that’s where we’re losing Jack. As I analyzed our situation I realized, it’s no fun for kids to sit through church itself, so why put ourselves through it at home too? Our kids do know how to sit through meetings, so maybe we can cut back on the practicing?

Participating in his own way

Before the next gathering, I went to our toy closet to look around. What would be a good, engaging, quiet toy that would interest Jack? I brought a few things downstairs and opened their containers.

Jack & his sister work quietly on their creations.

Sure enough, as we got started he quietly ventured over to look at the toy choices. The winner?? That would be the simple wooden blocks (affiliate link to the exact blocks we’ve had for years). I LOVED what it did for him and his little sister. They were in the room with us, but working carefully on AWESOME buildings, while the rest of us could listen and pay attention. Occasionally, we would ask them a question or do something to engage them in the conversation. They also have little parts they are in charge of in the meeting, too.

Jack loves to show off his cities with their cool buildings.

These ordinary wooden blocks have seriously transformed our weekly meetings. Just having Jack stay in the room with us is a blessing. We’re hoping he’s gaining something from the experience as well. There’s something about family together time that helps us all feel cozy and united, so it helps to have this strategy up my sleeve to lengthen that bonding time for us.

Check out this fancy set of architectural blocks we enjoyed at a museum!

Whether you are entertaining autistic or typical kids, toy blocks are truly a timeless, creativity-inducing toy that will always have a place in our house, whatever our kids’ ages.