This Trouble of Mine

I was feeling really generous yesterday. I pulled the kids away from the TV and out of their pyjamas, filled their water bottles and piled them into a taxi heading to the mall.

When we arrived, we went to buy movie tickets and while we waited I bought them icecreams. 10mins later one child said she didn't want hers so I took a few bites. The next child said she wanted it so I said "How about you take this one that's still covered in chocolate and I finish yours?" Then the meltdown happened. She wanted both.

The day before I had gone running past a little shack near our apartment. I had actually peeked inside to see if someone was home. It looked more like planks of wood piled at various angles than a house and I only saw one piece of furniture - a crate that doubled as a table.

That picture flashed through my mind as I stared at my furious child who has everything. I don't know how you teach children contentment, when adults don't even understand it. But I hope that one day as they encounter set-backs in their lives, they will remember the kids in grubby t-shirts who ask them for money. And they will shrug and say "This trouble of mine? This is not so bad."