I grounded my son last week. I had to. I have to teach him that with every action comes a consequence. And this consequence came with the loss of a few privileges - namely the TV, computer and video games. Initially, I thought we were in for a tough week. I though wrong. He dusted off his transformers and played with them. He read a whole book in under 24 hours. He joined me in the kitchen as I prepared dinner. He even opened the door of his room and let his little sister in. I heard them laughing and playing and jumping. GASP! I liked what I saw. I started to think about the good old days. When we were growing up, we didn't have computers or cellphones or video games...and we were happy. It saddens me when our kids would rather text a friend than go knock on their door. It saddens me that they would rather sit in front of a screen than under a tree. I saddens me to hear kids say that their most treasured items are their electronic ones. It saddens me to see that they pity us for all that we didn't have. Bust mostly, it saddens me that I pity them for all that they do.