This morning I did my part to help two ducks improve their terrible parental skills. Looking out the front door, I noticed that a male Mallard was standing bravely on our front lawn, looking as if he were scouting and surveying the area. Those dark beady eyes, those webbed feet - yes, it was him again. With a touch of compassion for this slow-learning critter, I did my part to help his parenting skills by opening the front door, staring him in the eye for a second, and then stepping toward the newspaper and picking it up. He called to his mate a few meters away and they both flew off toward the east. I hope I wasn't too late - I hope they didn't repeat the disastrous mistakes they've made in the past by building their nest and laying their eggs near our house.

I first met these two ducks, or rather their offspring, when I was in my basement a few years ago and heard a strange peeping sound coming from one of our window wells. I looked through our tiny basement window and saw seven little ducklings that had fallen into the window well. They were hungry and cold. Some were near death. We looked for their parents and tried to get parents and babies back together again, without avail. We finally decided to try to nurse them to health, but only two of the batch survived over the course of the next few days. Eventually we took them to a local pond and released them. We would later add plastic covers to our two window wells to avoid this fiasco in the future.

In spite of that disaster, the ducks came back at least twice over the next few years. Last year to my horror I found a nest of duck eggs just inches away from the window well that doomed their children before. The nest was pretty much in plain site, next to our house. It was really stupid. We tried to respect the parents' privacy and not disturb mom as she sat on the eggs to incubate them, but we humans have needs, too, like mowing the lawn. After one lawn-mowing episode, I guess mom was upset enough by the racket that she may have abandoned the eggs. Some ended up on our lawn and some seemed to disappear - perhaps the ducks found a way to move some to safety. The nest was empty with no sign of ducks after that. They vanished - until this year.

I saw them fly into the neighborhood yesterday at dusk, but they landed two houses away, so I thought we would be safe this year. But seeing the male standing on the middle of our front yard as if he owned the place signaled that this experienced couple was planning more disaster for their offspring once again by returning to a familiar but dangerous place. I think they really like us and our yard, but this really isn't a healthy environment for their kids. So I did them a favor by spooking them this morning. Like I said, I hope I'm not too late.

Some parents never learn, but they should. There are some influences and environments that are simply too dangerous for children. I'm tired of watching parents cheerfully waddle around as their kids drop needlessly into dark wells of immorality and other negative influences that will leave them cold and spiritually starving. All of us parents are flawed, but there is guidance that can help us avoid the pitfalls and bad environments that can harm our families. The Church is a tremendous resource of wisdom and guidance for families. The teachings to parents and youth, if followed, do so much to help our children and our families succeed, and to help us recognize how to find and create healthy environments for child raising. We were meant to be smarter than ducks in such matters.
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