The Boy and His Frog

A short story about the joy of being an unconventional parent.

Being about 4 years old, Wesley (my now 18-year-old son) loved bugs! He loved bugs and insects of all kinds. He would daily go out into our yard and find grasshoppers, beetles, potato bugs, moths, etc. He would pick them up, look at them, and put them into our little bug catcher so he could view them even closer with a magnifying glass.

One day, while cooking dinner in the kitchen I looked over and saw Wesley playing on the floor near the dining room table with a toy in hand.

Being completely drawn to his cuteness I asked, “What are you doing?”

I wasn’t expecting his answer.

His little toe head bobbled around, and he stared at me with his big bright blue eyes.

“I’m giving my frog a ride in my dump truck!” He replied.

I smiled and looked a little closer. Sure enough, he had a real live frog resting in his small toy dump truck and was zooming it all around the house.

I remember chuckling to myself and thinking ‘I should have him take the frog outside.’

But against my better judgment, I responded with, “Well that sounds like a super fun ride for your frog!”

I knew by this time with Wesley’s well-intended love but too much manhandling with his cute pudgy fingers, the frog probably wasn’t going to make it. So, I let him continue the fun, whizzing his new friend all around the house.

(Frogs have delicate skin. If they are handled by humans too much the oils from their skin don’t like the oils from ours and it often leads to the frog's death. It's sad, but true.)

After about 15 minutes or so, I noticed Wesley had moved on to a new toy.

“Hey bud, where did your frog go?” I asked.

His eyes about popped out of his head.

The look on his face said it all. His 4-year-old brain had gotten distracted and he had misplaced his frog! In my house nonetheless!

We went and searched for it together, and I took this opportunity to share a teaching lesson about frogs, their skin, and how they are best kept outside from now on.

Well, sad for Mr. Frog because we couldn’t find him!

Until one day, a week later, I was vacuuming, and found him, belly side up, under the couch!

Poor Mr. Frog. He was in the literal sense, ‘loved to death!’

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I remember thinking often throughout the years about how unconventional I am as a parent. I think that sometimes I make people uncomfortable because I don’t always do things the way someone might think I should.

Honestly, I like this about myself.

My kids like it too!

I probably learned this quality from my mother. She was very good at being unconventional and letting us just be US! I enjoyed that as a child and remember many things she did on purpose to celebrate us as individuals.

Here are some examples of my unconventional parenting with my own kiddos.

On weekends, I often make honey butter toast at 10:30 at night for my youngest just because he said he was hungry. I think to myself, I should just tell them to go to bed but who really cares? It’s just a snack and it makes him feel loved and special so away to the kitchen I go.

When my boys were little, I often brought snacks for them to eat during bath time! Because who doesn’t want to have a party in the bath?

Now it's gotten so luxurious that my youngest requests milk or ice water and a hand towel to go along with his snack! LOL! Over the years he’s had things like chips, burritos, ice cream, and hot cocoa!

Currently, at random I will walk into the room and say, “Okay everyone, who wants a coffee? Let's go!” And we all hop in the car for no reason other than it's fun to be together and go get a fun drink once in a while.

Sometimes, my teens will say at 11:00 pm, “Hey Mom! Want to watch a movie?” Most of the time I don’t like to stay up that late and am usually quite literally walking down the hall to go to bed, but when I see one of their cheesy convincing grins on their faces, I’ll often smile and submit! It’s a ton of fun!

I would praise my kids and still do, about getting their clothes dirty, digging holes in the ground, and climbing trees.

We splash through mud puddles (even when not prepared) and ride our bikes and scooters through the deepest puddles we can find, splashing water up and out from the tires, soaking our bodies. (And why not, because we have a hot bath and coco waiting for us back home!)

During halftime at my older son's basketball games, I would repeatedly time my youngest to race as fast as he could around the perimeter of the court. He was like a real-life “Flash” (from Mr. Incredibles). You should have seen the looks and smiles on the other spectators’ faces!

Over the years I’ve had a kid or two that wants to wear weird things to school! I don’t care and say, “Go for it!” We both end up chuckling because they even know how silly they look! They walk in with confidence and rock it!!!

I’m always looking for ways to meet them where they are and have fun doing it!

I think that’s the simple message for today!

Have fun with your kids! Be silly! Be unconventional! Throw random little surprises their way and watch how much joy it brings to you when you see their faces light up.

It’s a great moment!

I know that sometimes as a parent we can get stuck in a rut with how we interact with our children. Life gets busy, sports and activities fill up our evenings, and we move into more of a routine and transactional way of living.

Yet learning new ways of doing things or being refreshed by good things we already know can bring life into your relationship with your son or daughter.

I launched a video course not too long ago called The Big 5 of Intentional Parenting. In this course, I share with you all about how to connect with your kids on deep levels.

I will also teach you how to create a lasting relationship that allows you to have an influence on your kids’ lives, even as teenagers and young adults. This is powerful!

If you’re ready or wanting to deepen your relationship with your son or your daughter, click here to learn more about the course, the benefits of it, and how it can transform your parenting experience.

On the course page, you’ll find a surprise video of a very sweet and completely impromptu video recording of my youngest son and me about our relationship. I hope you enjoy it!

I’ve had many wonderful parents go through the course already and they are loving it! I wanted to make sure YOU knew about it too!

I’m here for you always,

Much love,

Angela