Plarail in a 6-tatami room | The Plarail bridge piers disappeared. The cause was my second son's masterpiece, the 'Tokyo Tower'. | Parenting Diary - May 3, 2026 (Sun)
After coming home, I tidied up the Plarail once and then brought it out again.
At first, I had the brothers build the tracks.
My eldest son is used to it.
My second son has also started getting quite involved in playing with Plarail lately.
Before, he was more into cars, but perhaps due to his brother's influence, he's becoming interested in Plarail too.
At first, I leave it to the children.
Where to connect it.
What kind of shape they want to make.
Watching them is actually quite interesting.
However, halfway through, parental intervention becomes inevitable.
This curve won't connect.
I want to put a bridge here.
I want to make this a train depot.
From around this point, I start getting serious too.
I only spread it out this much during long holidays.
On regular weekends, I honestly don't have the energy to do this much. lol
But once I start, I can't stop.
I spread out the blue tracks.
I set up the bridge piers.
I make it elevated.
I run the trains.
It was spread out all over the room.
Along the way, I also built a Hayabusa train depot.
When several of them are lined up, it's genuinely cool.
I think the parents are enjoying it more than the children.
However, a problem arose here.
I'm short on bridge piers.
I wondered where they went, and then...
They were being used for the Tokyo Tower made by my second son.
That is an important structure in its own right.
It's a work of art.
I can't just dismantle it without permission.
It might be worth a good price in the future.
I had no choice, so I improvised with New Blocks.
They aren't official bridge piers.
But as long as the height matches, it's fine.
Or rather, they actually fit perfectly. lol
As long as it's supported.
As long as it doesn't fall.
This feeling was exactly like being on a construction site.
What I need is missing.
It's being used somewhere else.
The planned materials are not enough.
But, I won't stop.
I'll make do with what I have.
The New Block bridge piers looked a bit forced.
But they supported it properly.
The train ran, too.
The kids were laughing.
That was enough.
It doesn't have to be perfect.
It wasn't exactly thought through, either.
If anything, it was quite haphazard.
But with that 'haphazard' approach,
the kids laugh like crazy.
This makes me happy.
Adults try to build things properly.
They try to give things meaning.
They try to connect things neatly.
But children don't ask for that much.
The train runs.
It crosses the bridge.
It enters the station.
That's all.
At first, the brothers were building it together.
Partway through, I added some arrangements.
The bridge piers were taken for Tokyo Tower.
I substituted them with New Blocks.
Even so, it took shape just fine.
There are days like this sometimes.
Days where things just work out somehow, even without preparation.
Days where compensating for what's missing actually makes things more interesting.
Cleaning up is a pain.
But I quite like the time spent looking at the completed tracks.
This place is both a playground for the kids
and a worksite for the parents.
Today's worksite issue: a shortage of bridge piers.
The solution: New Blocks.
As a result, the train ran safely.