Mother duck

Have I mentioned her? She lives on the Rolling Hills golf course lake Bernie and I always walk past. This spring she had a brude of seven chicks. Sometime during the summer one of them disappeared, unfortunately. But she’s taken great care of the remaining six and now they’re almost all grown up; big enough that it’s hard to tell which one is mom bobbing in the water.

I’ve never seen the father with them. I guess he got cut out the chick raising fairly early on. Not long after the two mallards got together and he started things…well, you know what I mean.

It got me to thinking. That seems to be the case with us humans too. I know some dads walk away, and others shy away from raising their children. But even those who really want to be involved end up taking the bleacher seats, always watching from a distance.

Do dads do something wrong? Or is it just a mom thing? For whatever it’s worth, it hurts to feel like you’re on the outside, looking in at your family.

Ring, ring! Hello? Hi dad – is mom there?