I stopped by Toys ‘R Us last week while I was out with Aidan. We walked around for about 10 minutes, and he probably said “I want that” roughly 43 times. Cars, books, Transformers, bikes, Play-doh – it didn’t really matter what it was, he just wanted it. I thought “Oh my God, my son is a consumed by greed”.

As a concerned parent, I reflected on the past few years to see if somehow I had contributed to his desire to have one of everything right this minute. I don’t think we’ve promoted a materialistic lifestyle, and we have tried not to lavish our boys with gifts and toys when they already have so much. Are we just hard-wired to be greedy?

It got me thinking about my own impulses when it comes to buying stuff. At various times in the past few months, I have expressed an interest in acquiring tons of things, including:

Tivoli radio
Digital SLR camera
Cell phone
Flat-screen T.V.
Patio set
Elliptical trainer
Leather briefcase
Acoustic guitar
Family-size tent
Piccolo snare drum
iMac
Mazda5 GT with air conditioning and automatic
Cottage
New house

That’s just off the top of my head – I’m sure there have been other spur-of-the-moment urges that I’ve forgotten about.

So, despite my sometimes holier-than-thou attitude, I must admit to harbouring greedy thoughts and desires. However, I’m pretty sure that if I just buy everything on my list, I won’t need anything else and these greedy thoughts will be gone. It’s such a simple solution – I encourage all of you to do the same.