To a point parents do have a very large influence over the children, but it is also pretty limited influence. As we grow there are a lot of things that influence us along the way, I am from a family of more than one and we all went our own way, and are rather different and unique people.

I only saved one puzzle put together when I was a kid, and that was a round one of the moon. We slid thin cardboard under it flipped it upside down and then smeared glue all over it and put a cardboard backing so it could be hung from the wall. The rest of the puzzles were taken apart and put back in the box to re-build later.

Also as a kid we had one of those abacuses. Figuring out how things worked, (by taking them apart), was a lot of fun as a kid.