My teen inadvertently gave me an idea the other day during one of our noontime chats, an idea that makes this veteran mom want to flock with birds of a different feather.
“Mummy,” said teen unwittingly, as I was chowing down my second full meal of the day and she was just breaking her fast with a bowl of cheerios, “did you know there are birds that leave their eggs in other birds’ nests and let other birds take care of their eggs?”
“Really?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, isn’t that mean?” she said disdainfully and took flight, thankfully. Heaven forbid I should let on that she had just launched me on my flight of fantasy.
Now, I’ve been a parent for only 14 years, 2 months and some odd days, so you’d think I’d be an expert in all kinds of parenting techniques. But how this idea had eluded me thus far I have no clue.
Deadbeat human parents have the reputation of being such louses and scoundrels, but I wondered if deadbeat European cuckoos and brown-headed cowbirds (called “brood parasites”) --- I had to Google to verify my teen’s claims --- can lay their eggs in another bird’s nest and let the unwitting host birds feed and raise their chicks, why can’t human moms get a free pass. Deadbeat cuckoos and cowbirds are not scandalized and they don’t end up as jailbirds. If Mother Nature sanctions this parenting method, why the flock (remember this, Toni V.) can’t human mothers do the same.
Consider this: If only I could drop off my three chicks in another human nest, I could fly around the world in 80 days (or less), explore the caves of South Africa or Maharashtra, climb Mount Everest, write the sequel to “War and Peace,” and, most importantly, reclaim the zillion hours of sleep I’ve lost in the past 14 years.
Of course, my three chicks are not mere eggs that I can drop off with just anyone, and since I’m not half as devious as a cuckoo or stealthy as a cowbird, I may as well abandon my fantasy and let my kids roost in my own nest….until and unless I can find an unwitting host.
Grandparents, uncles, aunts, friends….Any takers?
Not such a bird-brained idea, my fine feathered friend, and not so cuckoo as you may think. You are likely flying in formation with a good many parents who would give anything for a Huge Global Aviary into which they could parachute their chicks. This idea, most assuredly, would NOT lay an egg!
ReplyDeleteI can't follow that, but thanks for the shout-out Leema!
ReplyDeleteToni
You're a good writer, and a better momma.
ReplyDeleteVery clever! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete