Mario Bros.

My two oldest sons, ages 6 and 5, were playing Mario Bros. this week; however, we don't own a Nintendo. They weren't playing the game, but they were pretending the game. They each chose a character from it (they have played it before when our classic Nintendo still worked as well as on the Wii at friends' houses) and were running around the house as those characters. At first I felt bad for them; other kids their age have video games and are pretty good. My kids don't even know how the controllers work on most gaming systems. Then I realized how much fun they were having. They were running, laughing, working together, and not once did they mention that they wished they had the real game. They were content; they were having fun with what they do have.

How often do I as their parent think they are deprived of something that is unnecessary? How often do I place importance on material things? How often to I feel guilty about things that I shouldn't feel guilty about? How often do I NOT model this contentment that my children were showing because I don't have something?

I see their classmates, while waiting in the cafeteria for school to begin, playing hand-held video game devices. My children have a toy action figure or animal to keep them occupied. Every now and then I see them look at their friends' stuff with some longing. Typically, several of their friends put down their games and join them in an epic battle between a toy dinosaur, Yoda, and a Transformer.

And I am proud. Proud that as they go "without", they seem to be much richer.