Everyone in our family enjoys the Frog and Toad stories by Arnold Lobel; it is the subtle sarcasm and irony that makes these stories so clever and fun to read. Today Elijah and I were taking turns reading stories from Days With Frog and Toad and I was laughing to myself when I realized how much I could relate to this story.
Tomorrow by Arnold Lobel
Toad woke up. "Drat!" he said. "This house is a mess. I have so much work to do."
Frog looked through the window. "Toad, you are right," said Frog. "It is a mess."
Toad pulled the covers over his head.
"I will do it tomorrow," said Toad. "Today I will take life easy."
Frog came into the house. "Toad," said Frog, "your pants and jacket are lying on the floor."
"Tomorrow," said Toad from under the covers.
"Your kitchen sink is filled with dirty dishes," said Frog.
"Tomorrow," said Toad.
"There is dust on your chairs."
"Tomorrow," said Toad.
"Your windows need scrubbing," said Frog. "Your plants need watering."
"Tomorrow!" cried Toad. "I will do it all tomorrow!"
Toad sat on the edge of his bed.
"Blah," said Toad. " I feel down in the dumps."
"Why?" asked Frog.
"I am thinking about tomorrow," said Toad. "I am thinking about all of the many things that I will have to do."
"Yes," said Frog, "tomorrow will be a very hard day for you."
"But Frog," said Toad, "if I pick up my pants and jacket right now, then I will not have to pick them up tomorrow, will I?"
"No," said Frog. "You will not have to."
Toad picked up his clothes. He put them in the closet.
"Frog," said Toad, "if I wash my dishes right now, then I will not have to wash them tomorrow, will I?"
"No," said Frog. "You will not have to."
Toad washed and dried his dishes. He put them in the cupboard.
"Frog," said Toad, "if I dust my chairs and scrub my windows and water my plants right now, then I will not have to do it tomorrow, will I?"
"No," said Frog. "You will not have to do any of it."
Toad dusted his chairs. He scrubbed his windows. He watered his plants.
"There," said Toad. "Now I feel better. I am not in the dumps anymore."
"Why?" asked Frog.
"Because I have done all that work," said Toad. "Now I can save tomorrow for something that I really want to do."
"What is that?" asked Frog.
"Tomorrow," said Toad, "I can just take life easy." Toad went back to bed. He pulled the covers over his head and fell asleep.
With 4 children ages 6 and under our house can spiral down into disorder very quickly. It is easy to look around a messy house and feel down in the dumps; and
there are many days when it is very tempting to just go and hide under the covers and put it all off until tomorrow. But if I do that, then tomorrow feels even more overwhelming. Just as Toad discovers in the story- if you just get off your fanny and get the work done and stop thinking about it so much you will feel a whole lot better in the end. There really is a lot of wisdom in the saying "Don't put off until tommorow what can be done today."
