A Little Bird Taught Me

Nature seems to abound with lessons on good parenting.  I was witness to one of those lessons today as I sat outside on the grass enjoying a beautiful sunny morning.  I was witness the sad truth that never seems to be included with all the good advice we seem to derive from parenting in nature.

 

We have all heard it before, that after the baby birds hatch from their eggs and are nurtured by the mother bird, she eventually knows that it's time for them to learn how to fly, so she pushes them out of the nest and before the bird hits the ground, voila!  It instinctively does what it needs to and and flies.  Or, sometimes falls to the ground, stunned and starts squawking away that the flying lesson for the time has failed.

But today, as the mother bird pushed the baby bird out of the nest, she did not consider the special circumstances of her baby bird.  (Being nature of course she wouldn't, but as humans it is so important that we take advantage of the thinking and reasoning abilities we have been blessed with.)  She did not consider that the height of her nest was at least twice that of a typical nest in a tree, for she had built her nest in the gutter of the roof of the church building.  Nor did she consider that the nest was not surrounded by the softer surface of grass, but was that of a very hard concrete sidewalk.

The consequence of pushing her baby bird out of the nest too soon was fatal.  The bird's neck broke on impact and the mother bird was left distraught that her baby was not responding to her any longer. 

How often do we as parents treat our children the same way as the population in general, giving little thought to their unique circumstances, gift, or challenges?  Most of the time I would think everything will turn out alright, but for children pushed too much, too soon, if we are not paying attention to their unique circumstances, we could be sending them to their destruction; spiritually, mentally, socially, emotionally, or physically.

I'm sad that this little bird plummeted to it's death in front of my very eyes, and yet I'm grateful for the reminder of how imperative it is that we pay heed to the needs and special circumstances of each child.  It could well make or break them, both figuratively and literally.