Where you going mom?

One of our ducks decided to sit on a nest of a bunch of eggs and try her hand at hatching them.  About a month later, she hatched one duckling.  Yes, just one.

Not sure, but I don’t think there is many cuter things than a tiny little duckling.

The baby is bigger now and mom has decided to move them out of their dense coverage of the piled high fire pit and introduce the new kid to the rest of the world.  What I find interesting when I watch mom and baby maneuver in the world, is that mom lets the baby discover things on her own. Amy (mom’s name) just decides one moment that she’s walking across the duck field and baby is supposed to follow.  She doesn’t announce her intentions, she just decides where she is going and goes. It is the ducklings responsibility to know where it’s mother is at all times and to pay attention to her movements.  It reminds me of parents in the grocery story who are constantly looking for their children.  Or who are always trying to find ways to make their children stay by their side.  Amy the duck taught her little one that it is the ducklings responsibility to know where her mom is and not the other way around.

Amy the duck doesn’t try to convince her baby to swim, she just decides to do it herself and then stands guard while her baby figures out how to get on the log and plop in the water.  Amy isn’t worried or fussy over her baby – telling her how to do things or correcting her – she just lets her little duckling figure out how things work for her – in her own way.

Interesting to think about how human mothers are with their own children.  Many of them are so worried or scared and try to protect their child from every possible bad thing from happening.  What they may not realize is that providing a safe environment for their child to discover things on their own empowers the little one with confidence, ingenuity and uniqueness in their discoveries.  Doesn’t that feel better than worrying all the time?

So a lesson from Amy the duck, provide a safe environment for your children (or animals) to learn.  Also to teach them to be responsible for their own actions at a very young age.

These are seemingly two small concepts but huge when you really consider how lovely it would be for all new beings to be empowered at such a young age.