A Pencil for a Frog

Being a parent means all the things you’d expect; child rearing, the drudgery of homework, after school activities, book fairs, messes everywhere and so on.

Then there is the unexpected stuff that is more often than not, surprising and extremely strange. For instance, when a conversation just happens out of the blue and leaves you wondering if you really are part of some reality show experiment.

The following is completely true and if I’m being honest I’m still looking for the hidden cameras.

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4 year old: “Hi, so I need a pencil. Can you get me a pencil?”

Me: “Why? You’re playing outside.”

4yo: “Cause we caught a frog and I need to poke it so it, well, um frogs have lungs and they need to breath and this frog is a baby..”

Me: “No. No way. Not giving you a pencil so you can poke a frog.”

4yo: “Oh. Can I have a paper plate then?”

Older sister (coming up behind 4 year old): “We need the plate for the frog because we caught it and now I just need a pencil.”

Me: “To poke a frog?!”

Her: “No, no. We need to poke the holes in the plate so the frog we captured can breath.”

Me: “Oh. Uh, sure. But you know, let it go after a few minutes because...”

Them: “Okay bye!”