My husband and I have always been against video games. We see kids playing them non-stop and worry that an entire generation is spending too much energy trying to save a "second world" when they could be out saving the first one.



And yet, there are times when it would be handy to have something that would occupy their time while we are busily engaged in adult pursuits (like waiting in line at the bank).

So this past Christmas, I finally succumbed to the pressures of the world and bought each of my kids--a 6 year old boy and a 7 year old girl--a Nintendo DS.

While they were allowed to play it as much as they wanted during the break, now that school is back in session, they can only play it under certain conditions--like in the morning when we're still sleeping, and when we have to wait somewhere and it's important that they keep themselves occupied (the aforementioned bank, a doctor's office, etc.).

There is also a highly anticipated, magic time in our household called "token time." This is the time when everything that needs to be done is done and they can spend their hard earned tokens (received for doing their chores and achieving other goals we have set for them) on electronics--TV, computer games, and the DS.

When I say everything has to be done, I mean that their room is clean, the living areas are clean, their playroom is clean, and their homework is done.

So today my son really wanted to play the DS. I reminded him that when these things were done, he could have token time. Excited at the prospect, he enthusiastically began to clean every room.

Along the way, however, he found some games that he had started and forgotten to finish, he found some toys that he just really wanted to play with, he found some music that he really wanted to listen to, he found his sister and needed to check out what she was doing, and he found me in the kitchen and wanted to know all the details of what we were having for dinner.

Before he knew it, dinner was on the table, and his golden opportunity to play his DS was gone.

As I watched my son get distracted and off course from his original goal, I kept thinking--"Just do it! It's so simple! Just pick up those three things and you'll get what you want!"

And, of course, those thoughts made me think of myself and all the other adults I know who say they want something--more money, better relationships, less stress--and yet get distracted and off course.

His behavior made me think that the DS wasn't as important to him as I had thought--if it meant that much he would have focussed on the tasks in front of him to the exclusion of all else.

And, of course, that is exactly how the Universe knows what is important to us.

"Unless you are actively engaged in getting what you want, then you don't really want it," says Peter McWilliams in one of my favorite books, You Can't Enjoy the Luxury of a Negative Thought.

Whether you're a kid or a grown up, it's still true.