Thanks all!

I have friends that have a cream leather couch (with 3 kids) and they clean up messes (easier than fabric they say) and it works fine for them. I'm not so sure I'd be that risky with a couch.

Based on that, I did recently order relatively inexpensive leather chairs (cream) for my DR. I may switch to brown after seeing them in the room.

Wait 2-3 years, since the current bench is only basically destroyed rather than completely destroyed.

If you absolutely love it, find out if it says somewhere if you can clean simple pencil/pen markings on it. But, you have to clean it immediately.
With two kids, I would skip it. Get something more comfortable and easy to clean or with patterns.

I would stay away from white leather. Food stains aside, it will only take one marker or crayon.... I would go with dark leather or, at this stage, a wooden bench with cushions that can be cleaned or replaced.

Background: we have a 3 year old who has basically destroyed our cloth-upholstered dining bench. We're also expecting a baby soon, so anticipate a few more years of having food, markers, and crayons smeared on our chairs.

So we're thinking of replacing our cloth-upholstered dining bench with a leather one that can be more easily wiped down -- the Crate & Barrel one below is on sale right now. Question is -- is a cream colored one a very bad idea? Not sure if white leather would stain if something is spilled on it...

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/lowe-ivory-leather-bench/s667887