My girls take after their engineer father and they love Lego. But I have noticed that Miss Control (almost 4) really prefers to build, and while building is fun for Miss Chaos (2), her real joy comes from tearing down said building. You can (I’m sure) well imagine the ensuing discussions!
It takes time to build something, it takes patience and effort, it takes thoughtful placement, and it’s generally very quiet. Knocking down, that is so much quicker, so much more satisfying, one or two inconsiderate swipes and it’s done. And you can sit in the shattered ruins and enjoy with satisfaction your effect, and the ensuing protest from your sister!
Isn’t that the same with relationships? To build relationships takes effort, it takes time, it takes thoughtful consideration. It is a quiet slow process, but at the end you can have something really beautiful. Destroying a relationship, so much easier, one or two inconsiderate swipes, and all that hard work is wrecked, and you find yourself sitting in the ruins.
It takes thoughtfulness, presence, an awareness of the needs of the other, to build a friendship. It takes time, it takes effort. It takes a sense of when you are being destructive, and a willingness to rebuild. And that is the thing, relationships, (like Lego) can be rebuilt. They won’t look quite the same, but they can be mended if you are willing to make the time and effort.
