Like so many of us, I've been in the stores lately. It's especially intriguing to see the new education toys and gadgets. One that got my eye looks like a paperweight and it "talks" when the red button in its middle is pushed. I pushed it to see what would happen. The voice inside the paperweight spoke to me: "That was easy." I pressed again. There were no other messages, just "That was easy."

This little message box was being sold in a large office supply store with the proceeds, as the sign indicated, going to a charitable organization. I understand that the message is trying to encourage more of us to do more and not be afraid and to move forward. But, frankly, it scared me.

When I tell myself, "That was easy," I may be sending myself a wrong message. Much, if not most of what we have to do in school and in life is hard and challenging. And we have to try to do it, whether it's easy or not. We have to watch the messages we put across to our children.

I could respect this little message box more if it said something like this:

"Even though it is not easy, I can do it." Or, "That is hard, but I will work at it."

Down the street, I visited a new daycare center. It had lots of active play equipment. The place dazzled me until I was shown into the computer room. There stood a video arcade machine, a set of TVs and videogames galore. These are speed demon games, and I understand their allure. But, they are (and I sound like an old schoolteacher, which I am) not good for education.

When I got home, I turned on my own television and was greeted with an ad that told parents that if only they buy this particular electronic teaching game (which was very expensive) that their children will read easily and fast.

Is education really fast and easy and I'm not getting it? I know that cake mixes are fast and so are many computers. But in my long experience, when it comes to education, it is usually not fast and not easy. In fact, education is often slow and tedious and many children, used to the fast pace of their other activities, have trouble getting used to it.

One of my grandsons in kindergarten tells me that he does not like having to sit so long and listen to the teacher's directions in class. He wishes he were on the playground all day. He is getting used to school, and it's not easy.

He is just beginning to read and he likes to run around a lot. The other day together we made a jump and read game. Using ordinary paper, I asked him what words he wanted to jump on. He picked five and of course "Dinosaur" was one of them. I wrote the words in large print on the papers, which he spread around the floor. I called out the words and he jumped on them. Then, we changed places and he called out the words for me to jump on them.

This game could come in a bright, shiny box in the store, but it wouldn't be any better. We made this game ourselves. That was the pleasure and the education. It didn't cost more than a few pieces of paper and oh, yes, it did take a little time. That is what our children really need from us: time.

I don't want to spoil the fun, but there is a lot of stuff out there in the stores that concerned parents think they have to buy. I admit that some of these new educational items are enticing and smart. But there is no guarantee that buying them will make our kids smart.

Our children need to learn how to wait, to work on problems, and even how to live with some of them. That's education, and it's not easy

Dorothy Rich is founder and president of the nonprofit Home and School Institute, MegaSkills Education Center in Washington.