Lessons to be Learned...

Tyler and I went out and did some running around tonight, just us. It's always so fun to just have conversations with him while we're driving. The questions he asks are hilarious, but sometimes so deep.

As we were about halfway to the store, we passed a building. One we had passed literally thousands of times before, but this time he asked what it was.

Tyler: "Mommy, what's that building?"
Me: "That's the Goodwill Store"
Tyler: "What's the Goodwill Store for?"
Me: "That's a store where people bring extra stuff that they don't need anymore, like toys, and then kids that don't have toys can get them there for really cheap." (Hey - it's the best I could do on such short notice!)
Tyler: "Why do the kids not have any toys?"
Me: "Because they don't have a lot of toys like you."
Tyler: "Why?"
(I'm realizing I'm either going to have to start lying to telling him the whole story...)
Me: "Some kids don't have toys like you do because their parents don't have money to buy them toys."
Tyler: "Why don't they have money to buy toys?"

(Oh Lord, is this going to end???)

Me: "Some people don't have jobs where they can buy extra toys. Would you like to give some of your toys to those boys and girls that don't have any toys."
Tyler: "Yea, everybody needs toys."

At this point I teared up, and made a decision. The next time we're cleaning his room, we're going to take all of those toys that he just doesn't ever use, and are just the ones that usually get dumped in the middle of the floor and never played with - and we'll take them to the Salvation Army or to the Battered Women's Shelter in town. If there's anything I want to teach my kids, it's compassion for others, especially children. It breaks my heart to know there are children out there, just like Tyler, without toys, without parents, or without homes. I would call myself a Conservative most of the time, but something happened in my brain when I had kids, and have never looked at it those situations the same way.

Over the next week we'll start collecting toys. If another little boy or girl Tyler or even Connor's age can smile or laugh while playing with their toys, it's all worth it.