Boys and Frogs

Because it has rained so much in the last two days, there are tiny little frogs in our front yard.  Collin found one and wanted to bring it in the house to keep as a pet.  He put it in the butterfly container we have and then ran to the refrigerator to get so lettuce for the frog.  The little piece of lettuce was still 3 times as big as the frog.  I explained to Collin that I doubt frogs eat lettuce especially if it's big enough to squash it.  He said that he learned during his nature camp two weeks ago that worms eat lettuce so frogs must too.  Poor, tiny frog was captured and already in the butterfly container so I thought there was not any harm in seeing what the frog did with the lettuce.

That evening, we had the last swim meet that I posted about previously.  During the Meet, the kids found the same type of frogs and wanted to play with them.  One boy squished a frog between his fingers.  Collin did not like that the boy did that.  However, he did want a frog to hold and take home.  I said he needed to concentrate on the swim meet and not worry about the frogs.  Plus, I was not going to hold the frog while he swam so he was going to lose it anyway.

After the Meet was over while walking back to our car, he found a frog.  I pleaded with him to leave it but he wanted to take it home.  We had a used soft drink cup and lid in the car which is where the frog stayed on the way home.  While on the way home, I explained that this frog did not want to live in the cup or the butterfly container at home.  He really needed to be outside.  Frogs don't eat lettuce either.  "Do you see lettuce outside for frogs to eat?  What do we have at home for frogs to eat?"  I told him that he could keep the frog but it would likely not be alive when he woke up in the morning OR he could let the frog go in the yard and we could watch it happily hop away to find food and new friends.  He was torn between these choices and started to cry a little.  I thought he might be faking until I saw real tears.  I asked him why he was crying and he said, "I want to keep the frog but I don't want him to die.  I guess I need to let him go but I can't to it."  I told him I would help him and said that he made a really good decision.  We knelt down in the grass, took of the lid and turned the cup on it's side in the grass.  The frog eventually hopped out, stopped to look around and hopped away.  That's when the tears REALLY started to flow.  He was so sad that the frog was gone and he did not get to keep him.  That is my sweet, loving little boy.  I knew some of this was because it was past 8pm after a long day of camp and a swim meet but also knew that my kind-hearted little boy just made a tough decision.

When we went inside, he saw that the other frog he captured just 3 hours before was dead.  That made him feel better about letting the other frog go...but now he was sad that the first frog was dead.  Hard lessons to learn but all part of growing up.  I guess I will have to see what he does when he finds his next frog.  There is rain in the forecast for the next two days.....