The Christmas of 1979 was a special one. My mother’s family came down to Louisiana from Nebraska, delighted by the lack of snow, and I received two of the best presents ever (from my three year old viewpoint). One was the Fisher Price Nursery School set complete with children, school bus and playground, the other was an inflatable green frog chair (both seen above). I thought that seat was fantastic! It was my size, comfortable and had huge eyes.

The holidays are special for many reasons. For me they were and still are about coming together with loved ones, realizing traditions from different ages and making memories. My frog chair was a memory soon enough, after it sustained an unrepairable injury and deflated…but a fond memory nonetheless.

Let’s move on to frogs. Growing up, we lived near a pond, a creek, and in an area that received rain often. Wildlife was abundant, especially frogs. My brothers and I played outside for hours and catching things was, well, something that kids do. Frogs were one of those things we would catch. I preferred small “baby” frogs that looked little even in my hand. They were easy to catch and we would make Lego space ships and houses for them. The big frogs were for eating as far as I was concerned. I don’t recall being afraid of frogs until three events happened. First, during a thunderstorm I was sitting on the couch in the living room when a particularly loud clap of thunder sounded and the sky lit up with lightning. I pulled back the curtains and was met with the underside of a frog clinging on to the window screen. Not terrible, but a little startling since I was already stirred up by the storm. Second, maybe a year or two later, I heard some adults talking about warts, then kids were talking about warts, then my brother told me that warts came from toads and frogs, then he held one up and teased me with it. The seed that had been planted began to sprout. Third, another couple of years later, I saw the movie Frogs. A 1972 gem of a horror movie, that frightened the hop out of me. As I got older, frogs stopped having a frightening effect on me, or so I thought. At 19, I worked at an animal hospital. One morning at 6 am I began taking dogs outside as part of the daily routine. I turned the corner and shrieked. There, in the middle of a dog run was the biggest, ugliest toad I had ever seen. It was a Colorado River Toad (aka Sonoran Desert Toad). I lived just down the road and immediately left and went home. I woke my younger, 16, brother and begged him to come remove the toad. He was resistant but when I promised money, he reluctantly got out of bed and came to save the day. His reaction was similar to mine, minus the shriek and plus a gag or two.

If I’ve got a little warning, frogs have little effect on me. In fact, they can be quite cute and interesting. Frog decor is even something I find appealing. Maybe it goes back to that inflatable chair, maybe not.

It’s interesting how we develop preferences and dislikes. Children receive messages from the adults in their lives that guide them in their preferences. Allowing children to explore with many different options (food, toys, activities) helps them develop their own preferences (I didn’t know I liked cottage cheese until I was 23 because one of my parents didn’t like it). Encouraging a child to stick with an experience gives them time to really figure out if they like it or not, or if it just takes a little time to get used to it. For example, an infant or toddler needs to taste a new food 10 or more times (different occasions) before it can be determined if he likes it or not.

Do you have a preference or dislike that has followed you from childhood?