a frog story

One morning we went to Park Day. Kevin went off to play in the woods with his friends (and can I just say how nice it is that I can trust him to not run off to Canada if I don't watch him every second?), and after a while he and several boys came running excitedly back. Kevin showed all of us that he had a little frog in his hands--a frog that all of the boys were trying to get a chance to hold, except Kevin was keeping it safely inside his hand. Once he had shown us the frog they all ran off again, and my friend said, "God bless that poor frog in the hands of four six-year-old boys."

Quite a while passed, and Kevin was still holding that frog. As much as I enjoyed seeing the intense interest he had in this frog, I was getting pretty concerned that the frog wouldn't survive, so I told Kevin to let him go. Kevin, however, had other ideas. He came back from the woods still holding the frog and said, "Mom, there are lots of places in our house. There are lots of places for the frog in our house." I informed him that we couldn't keep the frog. When he asked why I said we didn't have any frog food. "Mom, there are lots of flies in our house." (FYI, not true.) He also tried to put the frog in a water bottle to carry it home, but I stopped him.

After telling him repeatedly to let the frog go, I finally followed him into the woods to make sure the frog was freed. I found Kevin crouched by a puddle of water, and I'm pretty sure he was giving the frog a kiss before putting it in the water. Then he tried to get it back out of the water, and I made him leave the water and told him once again that we couldn't bring the frog home.

Then Kevin's eyes started welling up with tears, and he said in a very sad voice, "But Mom, I love the frog."

"I know, Honey, but the frog wouldn't be happy at our house. If you love the frog, you will leave him here in the woods where he can be happy."

I don't think Kevin was convinced, but I made sure he left the woods so the frog could make its escape.