MOM! There is NOTHING to do!

Really? With a house full of toys, games, books, puzzles, art supplies, and a host of chores, this is the last thing I should expect to hear from the kids.

Yet, this is how my eight year old son Brendan greeted me this morning.

Just one of Brendan's many toys!

My inside voice was screaming, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY YOUR FATHER AND I HAVE SPENT ON PLAY THINGS FOR YOU!!!”

“DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH SPACE IN MY HOUSE I HAVE SACRAFICED FOR YOUR TOYS!!”

Luckily, my calmer self triumphed and I heard myself rationally running down the list of activities that I thought he would enjoy.

“I don’t feel like doing any of those things,” he says. “I want to go somewhere fun. Can we go to the movies?”

Ah ha!

Now that is a different story entirely.

It’s the age old battle between needs and wants.

“So, what you are saying Brendan is that you are not in NEED of something to do. You just WANT to do something other than what I have offered you,” I say.

Now I am excited! I have been handed, on a shiny, silver platter, the opportunity to teach my son an important GROWN UP, REAL LIFE lesson.

Grabbing some coffee, I ask my son to sit down at the kitchen table with me.

“I understand how you feel,” I begin. “Everyone, at one time or another WANTS something they do NOT NEED. However, what makes you extremely fortunate is that you do not WANT something that you really and truly NEED. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” he says.

“Can you think of an example,” I ask?

“Starving people want food because they need food to live,” he says.

Now I begin to smile --- he IS listening to me.

“And you tell Daddy you want granite in the kitchen, but you don’t need that!”

BUSTED!

Seems my son has learned a lesson.

And so have I.

I’m NOT getting granite any time soon!

******

Enjoy your day!