"When I'm a Daddy..."

The other day I dragged all three children to Wal-Mart and then Henry's... why do I do that to myself? Anyway. We were in the craft section, as usual, and the boys were asking for little junky things to paint. They aren't expensive, but we have painted everything Wal Mart has to offer, and I end up throwing them away. Who needs 7 rainbow colored trains with uneven wheels? So in the hopes of saving money and avoiding junk build up, I have decided if they want to paint, they can paint pictures on paper. Also more creative, right?

After I had told them each "no" at least 3 times, Roman turns to me, looks me dead in the eye and says "When I am a daddy, I will take my kids to the store and let them buy whatever they want". Oh, if he only knew...

To me, the hardest part about being a parent is telling your children "no". I have to admit it has gotten easier with time... But to see the joy in their eyes as they open a new toy/book/shirt/whatever. Don't kids realize that we would LOVE to see that every day? But that doesn't teach children to appreciate and work for things. A lesson that it seems too many kids are NOT getting these days.

I just laughed and called Ben. I do try to stress whenever the opportunity presents itself that we don't NEED all the things that we WANT and that we have to save for bigger things, instead of blowing our dough on all the little junks. Don't get me wrong, my kids have it way better than I did :) I mean, a whole room full of toys, they practically grew up at Disneyland, and Roman has even been to Hawaii! Not deprived by any stretch of the imagination!!

Well, while Roman was telling me just what kind of dad he would be, Isaac had to throw in his three cents. "Yah, when I come here with my new family, I will buy the Thomas the train". I love it when they feed off each other! They are adorable though. And I will keep working on that whole "appreciate what ya got" thing!