melissel Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 We've always had kids' puzzles around, from the very basic to the more complicated Barbie 100-piece boxes. My kids WILL NOT sit down and do them. If they try, they get frustrated easily, no matter how much I help or encourage, and they have no interest whatsoever in them, even when I bring home a fun new one (once in a blue moon). Don't most kids love puzzles? Am I a terrible HSing mom for not...I don't know...requiring puzzle times or something? And knowing how puzzles are a waste of space in our house, why is it SO HARD to get rid of them? (In case anyone is wondering, I'm decluttering the schoolroom this week :tongue_smilie:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarcyB Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 Nope - while my oldest is okay with them, my youngest really doesn't like them at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LidiyaDawn Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 I. hate. puzzles. :willy_nilly: ...and my kids aren't keen on them either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 I didn't like puzzles much, growing up. My son loves them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 Mine don't care for them either. Sylvia will do them occasionally but Becca won't touch 'em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfunnybunch Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 Clearly you are doing something wrong. ;) I remember feeling the same way when my kiddos were younger. I just thought all kids naturally loved to do puzzles. I have one boy who is "meh" about puzzles, one who does not enjoy them one little bit, and one who looooves to do puzzles as long as someone else does the puzzles with him. Both my girls thought they were ok, but no big whoop. I think it just depends on the kid. Cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissel Posted March 13, 2011 Author Share Posted March 13, 2011 Clearly you are doing something wrong. ;) I knew it! *sigh* :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissel Posted March 13, 2011 Author Share Posted March 13, 2011 I. hate. puzzles. :willy_nilly: Actually...so do I. But I always chalked that up to the fact that I was never given any. I kind of thought that if I provided the girls with puzzles and worked with them, they'd enjoy them. It seems that I was wrong! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 No one in our family likes them. I find them incredibly boring. I just don't have the patience. DD was given a 500 piece puzzle for her 10th birthday (over a year ago). It still isn't put together. We tried. We really did. But we couldn't find one edge piece. There are two pieces that don't fit together but it doesn't appear there's room for another piece between them either. Weird. We couldn't get the center pieces either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belacqua Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 We got a puzzle once. The kid put it together then asked what we were supposed to do with it. Take it apart, I explained, so you can put it together again another time. "Why would I do that? I've already put it together." Erm...true. I just couldn't come up with a valid reason why he should spend hours assembling a picture when, as he pointed out, the picture is already on the box if he wants to see it. So I'm the only one around here who likes them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 I don't like them. I'm a little spatially challenged, and not patient, either. My son was pretty ignorant of how puzzles work--During neuropsych testing when he was 6, he was given a puzzle to put together, without a guide. He didn't finish it but told the tester he was done--he didn't mean "I don't want to do anymore," he meant, "I am done, even if it doesn't make any sense." He just didn't know it was supposed to make a picture of something. I guess he'd only done puzzles with a backing or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen in PA Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 My stepson (14 now) never liked them. DD will do one maybe once a year. DS LOVES them. And he's good at them, too. I have moved most of our puzzles to giant ziploc bags that I keep in a round laundry basket on the floor to save on shelf space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 My kids have pulled them out every great while. Like once a year. I bought them a set of nice wooden puzzles when DD1 was a toddler. You know, the kind where you just have to match the shapes and stuff. Ehh, they are sitting in the garage sale pile...I'm not sure if I can bring myself to sell them or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 They have never been a big deal around here- either jigsaw or word puzzles or Mind Bender puzzles- they have never tended to do them for fun. I have however at times incorporated them into school time and then there is more willngness :) FOr a while there I had them doing a jigsaw puzzle while I read aloud- I had all these map puzzles and I didnt want them wasted :). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlebug42 Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 My oldest dd will work one once in a blue moon with her sister. Boo-Boo however LOVES puzzles and has since she was a toddler. She could put together the 24 piece ones when she was a young 2. She is 7 now and we are moving on to 300-500 piece puzzles because she can put the 100 ones together in no time flat. Interestingly, she is my borderline ADD child and has a short attention span for almost everything except puzzles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 My middle dd gets far too frustrated to do puzzles, but my 12yo and I are working on a 1000 piece puzzle together and my 17yo is working on another 1000 piece puzzle by herself. She is much better at it than the rest of us are, so she can generally finish 2 or 3 puzzles in the time it takes my 12yo and I to do one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katemary63 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 DH and 3 DDs LOVE puzzles and are all great at them, willing to work for hours at a time. DS and I will help a bit and may get in the mood occasionally, but not often and usually just don't have the patience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Well I'll be the one lone soul to pop up and say that my dd USED not to do puzzles. Then I found out why: she had vision problems. There's something in visual perception with figures and ground. Whatever the case, after VT (vision therapy) she started doing puzzles with me. We started low (60 pieces) and moved up. Now she's at 300. What's amazing to me is that, not only does she do the puzzles, but she's FAST. So while I understand personality factors into it, I would ask wonder about vision issues or other causes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissel Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 Well I'll be the one lone soul to pop up and say that my dd USED not to do puzzles. Then I found out why: she had vision problems. There's something in visual perception with figures and ground. Whatever the case, after VT (vision therapy) she started doing puzzles with me. We started low (60 pieces) and moved up. Now she's at 300. What's amazing to me is that, not only does she do the puzzles, but she's FAST. So while I understand personality factors into it, I would ask wonder about vision issues or other causes. That's an interesting point. I'm reasonably sure my oldest does not have vision issues--nothing at all would cause me to even wonder about it. I do sometimes wonder about my DD5, though I strongly suspect her issues are more along ADHD lines. She was having some trouble with even the basic steps of learning to read, so I was thinking more about it 6 months ago or so, but she's made leaps and bounds in progress then, so I stopped considering it. I'll keep it in mind, thanks. And thanks to everyone else too. Two full cubes of our toy shelves downstairs are filled with puzzles of various kinds, and I'm just struggling with what to do with them. Maybe I'll give them one more good effort and then Freecycle them if no one is interested still. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 If you want to get it checked, you could go to a developmental optometrist (http://www.covd.org) but just have them do a regular exam. The regular exam wouldn't cost any more than an exam with any other optometrist, but they could screen and tell you if they have any indications of needing a fuller eval. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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