Ask Lemmy

Never. You like what you like.

Not nearly as sad as avoiding something you enjoy just because somebody else might find out.

"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up" --C.S. Lewis

Children's toys like games are limited in their function and scope. I don't think that makes playing with them sad ever but it can be more rewarding to make things with less constraints some times.

I feel like Ive been playing less games now that games turned to hobbies turn to a career in which I can try to solve complex problems in more creative ways.

I still play with blocks, little puzzles, games, etc though, so again a hard cut off doesn't really make sense to me.

xkcd #150

Turns out that if you do your work and pay your taxes you get to decide what to do with your money and time.

Accept that people may not like the things you do. You can always find someone enthusiastic about the same things you are online.

The most well adjusted people I know stay in love with something/things from their childhood. Also, revisiting childhood experiences is a popular therapy exercise for recovering from mental trauma.

Lego and old console gaming are two very common things to be interested in as an adult :) If you have a genuine connection to something, don't force yourself to sever it.

When you either have no personality outside of liking childrens toys, or you find yourself rushing into a store and elbowing people, potentially children, out of the way, so that you can get the toy first.

Never.

I'm 48 and this is only a small part of my home office.

Being an adult lets me make adult money and spend it how I see fit. Always wanted a Lego Star Wars collection. Now I just need better displays.

I say anything that fuels creativity is a good hobby to have. Legos can build lots of things especially if you have a engineering mind.

Atari games I'm sure are fun, but I'm also sure they spark some kind of imagery in your mind that if applied elsewhere (ie art) could be seen as creative. Or you know... Just fun.

Where i draw the line: you're 30+ yrs old, and no kids but your favorite show is Bluey... 😒

Legos are awesome and when you're an adult you have money to buy them. Is the wood paneling creative or just home maintenance?

Not always a winner for takes, but this quote by C.S Lewis I've always found helpful

When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up. - C.S. Lewis

It's not sad, it is infantalizing, whether that's "good or bad..."

https://theconversation.com/the-infantilization-of-western-culture-99556

As to spectating sports (rather the participation) :)

Visiting America in 1946, French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss commented on the endearingly infantile traits of American culture. He especially noted adults’ childish adulation of baseball, their passionate approach to toy-like cars and the amount of time they invested in hobbies.

Don't listen to them and do your own thing.

My household is full of Legos, plushies, little cute collectibles, consoles, board games... And there's no children. People should enjoy whatever they want to enjoy, no matter the age or gender or whatever.

We only judge people who don't understand how serious we take playing "Make believe".

It's sad when you cry while playing with them. Unless the story you came up with while playing was just so good it brought a tear to your eye.

There’s nothing sad about enjoying the things you enjoy, thinking there are rules to follow in order to be an adult is the most childish thing you could do as an adult.

You have hobbies and you don’t need anyone to tell you that you are or aren’t allowed to have them, don’t let people who are too afraid to enjoy what they want to enjoy gatekeep you.

Do cool shit.

I'm a dudely guy. I love my smoker (where do you live that they're doing it that often? Even here in Texas it's a niche hobby 99% of the time). I work on and ride motorcycles. Woodworking. Hog hunting, but that's mostly to keep wild hogs from tearing up land of people I know. I love camping. Music production. So I'd be considered pretty normal, minus the sports, if someone were to know my hobbies.

But also I've got some plushies in my home studio. I like them, they make me smile. I've got a bunch of retro games on modern equipment. I read a lot of fantasy and that includes a healthy dose YA fantasy. In addition to tabletop games that a lot of folks play I have an entire shelf dedicated to kids board games that I play.

I don't have kids. Never will. I'm the crazy uncle to everyone else's kids and we have a great time when they're over. And if anyone doesn't like my childish hobbies they can go fuck themselves.

Liking kids stuff isn't sad at all. Ever. If you aren't harming others and you're having a good time then anyone who gives a shit has stepped way the fuck out of their lane. If you met the most amazing person tomorrow and wanted them to be your partner and they found out about your hobbies and made fun of them, even if they were perfect in every other way, that's not the right person for you.

Now I'm not personally a Lego person. I don't have the concentration for it. But if I found out you were my neighbor I'd 100% offer to smoke a brisket or whatever you eat and supply some beer if you'd bring over the Atari for some Combat or have an extra RC car that we can race. That sounds like an incredible way to spend a Saturday if I'm not headed out of town.

When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

C.S. Lewis

Yeah, I'm the wrong person to ask. I'm 43, have a massive Lego collection, and play games in my spare time (what the kids leave for my wife and I).

(Edit) You should Google "AFOL" groups - Adult Fans Of Lego are all over the place. And even if you don't end up joining any, they have some impressive builds!

Nothing in what you describe are “children’s toys”. LEGO, Atari, RC cars, etc can be enjoyed by all ages.

Don’t let your personal insecurities convince you otherwise.

I’m a 48-yo man who enjoys retro gaming, and I would love to get into LEGO if I had the space for it. And if anybody tried to tell me otherwise, I’d laugh at them.

I’ve lived too damn long worried about what other people think about me to care anymore. I’m going to live MY life now, and you should live YOURS. Fuck the haters.

~Now get off my lawn!~

I love the replies in this thread and agree with them whole heartedly.

Enjoy playing with toys. Keep that imagination strong. Don't ever let anyone else make you feel wierd about it.

Almost 1/2 century old and I still have stuffed animals my mom gave me as a kid in the hospital and a few others for my birthday.

If she didn't get rid of my old millennium falcon and other starwars toys i would still have them.

You like what you like and you keep what means something to you. Fuck what anyone else thinks!

At the point that you do it not for fun, but for an obligation to your past self or for the potential profits later down the line

Otherwise, there is no limit. Age limits on fun are a capitalist lie

The only thing that's sad is being ashamed of your hobbies and interests. Do whatever you want with your free time, I promise that nobody gives a fuck.

Friend of mine who just retired, started getting into Lego for the first time in his life. You’re never too old

As someone who doesn't generally play with children's toys, i still say the answer is never.

As Randall Munroe said way back in XKCD #150, we're the grownups now, and we get to decide what that means. Life is too short not to spend as much of it as you can doing what you want. So long as it doesn't interfere with others, go wild.

To be fair I'd be more surprised by a kid playing Atari than an adult. The 2600 came out almost 50 years ago.

And there's nothing wrong with enjoying "kids stuff", no matter your age.

My fiancee and I build Legos together, play games together and there is nothing wrong with that. Rules like this are purely fictional and societal pressure. Just do what you like, you're a grown up! Even if someone tells you you shouldn't, you don't even have to do something with that :)

I'm 38 years old and still play with Beyblades. Do what you love as long as it doesn't hurt others or yourself.

Between the ages of about 13 and 17, teenagers are very sensitive to peer pressure and are also trying hard to be more mature, so they police each other's and their own interests against being 'childish'.

Once they're old enough that they don't worry about looking like kids, if their peer group is chill and non judgemental (for example, in quite a lot of colleges and universities), they relax and enjoy some toys again.

It's common to reject the previous stage in maturity temporarily. So middle schoolers don't want to be mislabelled as primary school children and high schoolers don't want to be mislabelled as middle schoolers, just as college attendees don't want to be mislabelled as school children at all etc. With enough distance, "NO!" becomes "lol, no" and people relax.

I can't stress the importance of having a chill and non judgemental peer group for this process to work enough, though.

In a house with children, playing with the kids is always being a great parent, but can also be neglecting sharing the burden of work, and there's a lot of work, so play activities can also be seen as negative. Maybe that's why some of the parents aren't into fun. Often parents try to be sensible and responsible while grandparents unashamedly have fun.

TL;DR: It's a sign of further maturity to stop policing maturity.

Once you're older than 99 you're not allowed to play with Lego's anymore

Toys generically is kinda big. It would be sad if all you could do was play with only one set for months. If you're constantly getting new-to-you toys then it's just something you enjoy and love.

I am a reseller so I do get new things to play with. Ironically I don't mess with toys that much. Old LCD screen toys are neat and leap frog stuff comes to mind.

You have adult money and thus can buy all the cool stuff.

Why wouldn’t you?

It's only sad if you give others the power to judge you.

I will never stop liking plushies :3

I work in IT and I think most of us still enjoy Lego and retro consoles and games.

Granted I do work with a ton of nerds.

We fought over a cool Lego car set for our white elephant gift at the Christmas party hah.

Basically just enjoy what you like and don’t yuck anyone else’s yum.

You and I are of the same make. Embrace your freedoms, enjoy your life to the fullest. Don't let societies insecurities drag you down.

Never. You're an adult and can do as you please. Also, Lego is very much an adult thing as much as it is for kids. They make plenty of sets now that adults would probably enjoy much more than kids, like the Botanical and Icons.

I want to say never. My career is now 2-5 years and I really enjoy helping pick out toys and seeing what they do, and sharing that with my littles. I had a classroom full of toys at one point for different needs. Toys are cool. I like “grown up” shit too like my computer and video games but I will absolutely go into a tree house and slide down a slide or ride that little roller coaster thing we have in the clinic. Not everyone is going to understand in the same way people give side-eye for riding the shopping cart across the parking lot. Like what you like, just be aware those reactions are conditioned into people over a lifetime.