"Why Can't I Have Everything I Want?"

Tonight at dinner our son asked a question that seems to have been brewing in his mind for some time: "Why can't I have everything that I want?" When you think about it, that is a really good question. I don't know for sue what the right answer is, but my wife and I made some attempts. First, my wife smartly asked him what he thought would happen. He was stumped by his own question. Then we gave it a shot. My wife probably, though not surprisingly, gave the best answer, "If you always got what you wanted, you would never learn to be happy with what you have." The more I think about it, the more I realize that getting what you want also means you don't learn. Without experiencing the have-not moments, its hard to appreciate the have moments or to learn to care for the things you have, because you never have to care much. But, I think that might have been more confusing then helpful to a four-year old.