Magna Tile Horde

My kids love playing with Magna Tiles to build all kinds of structures. I think it’s especially important for girls since some studies show that girls struggle with spatial recognition more than boys. My 6 year old daughter E thankfully loves playing with anything she can build, so we are getting a jump start in that department. The problem is, she likes to also horde.

When she is playing Magna Tiles with her 4 year old brother C, they have long periods where they are building and playing nicely. Over time, especially when they are tired or hungry, the fighting starts. I don’t mind arguing, but I do not like hitting. And this episode featured some hitting a few weeks ago. When I went in to figure out what was going on, E had most of the Magna Tiles and C eventually got so fed up that he hit her.

Hitting is always wrong, so I made C apologize. I did also want to emphasize that it takes two people to argue and that E should share more tiles with her brother. When everyone has enough and they can play nicely, there won’t be hitting or arguing. It takes many conversations to sort things out and to learn. I want to avoid a black and white version of who is right and who is wrong so my kids can take accountability in the areas that they can control. Hopefully the emphasis here will help them see the world more clearly when they are adults. In the meantime, I just want them to share more and keep building things instead of fighting.