You’ve heard of the Tiger Moms, right? How about an Eagle Mom?

The child’s teacher has now hooked me on a webcam that follows a nesting pair of eagles. If you want to get hooked yourself check it out here.
One of the days that my daughter wasn’t quite up to standing in line to wait for the bell to ring we went into the classroom early and the teacher had the eagle video streaming through her laptop and projecting onto the whiteboard. I stood there entranced as the mama eagle sat on her nest keeping her three eggs warm. She was covered in snow. All around her the nest was sparkling with freshly fallen snow. Her dedication to her task was inspiring, I must say.

I am told that two of the eggs have now hatched. The little eaglets, or pips, have been sighted, though not by me. As I’m typing this I have the video streaming in another window, because even though it is nighttime on the nest I’ve seen the mama move a couple of times, and I’m hoping to see the babies. Tonight there is no snow, but I’ve heard lots of wind and rain. The mama sits through it all, dutifully keeping her babies, hatched and unhatched, warm and dry. What a good mommy she is.

I think I can relate:

  • Eagles mate for life. This is a very good set of eagle parents. I’m told this is their third set of eggs and the others have been quite healthy. Though mama does the majority of the nest sitting, papa does take a turn now and then, and he also brings food back to the nest for whoever is ready to eat. I have a great mate, too. As I write he is putting in hour 12 of a 13 hour day to provide what we need, yet he is also willing to stay on the nest, if you will, quite often to let me get some time to myself, or with friends, or whatever. This nest would be a lot emptier without him.
  • Parenting is intensive. Whether it requires sitting on a clutch of eggs through wind, rain, and snow, or attending two IEP meetings in the space of a month, it takes time, energy, patience, and faith. This mama knows what her little pips need most and is doing whatever she can to provide it. I hope the same can be said for me.
  • Each stage has its challenges. Before long the mama eagle will be teaching those babies how to fly. Right now the hard part is keeping them warm and safe, but soon enough she’ll need to kick them out of the nest and show them how to use their wings. Just when I think I’ve figured out how to handle things we hit a new developmental phase. In some ways my kids are quite similar developmentally (in spite of a four year age gap) so sometimes they all hit the same hurdle at the same time. Currently we’re all working on waiting for our turn in a conversation and listening to what other people are saying. What that looks like is all three of them talking at once, and yelling at the others for interrupting in between repeating what they were trying to say in the first place. Fun dinner times at our house, let me tell you. No better than the previous phases, just different, and I’d say “let’s move on, people” but who knows what is coming next…

So I’m going to keep watching this eagle mama. I think I have a thing or two to learn from her.

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