Like
a lot of parents, I experienced a mixture of excitement and
apprehension sending the kids off to begin a new school year this week.
While it is natural to worry a bit, its also important to step back and
let the young people in your life struggle a bit with their challenges
in and out of the classroom.
Which reminds me of a story...
Once
there was a teenage girl who absolutely loved animals and she became a
volunteer at an animal rescue center. She was very responsible and
everyone appreciated the enthusiastic help she provided.
In
the center was an incubator for bird eggs that had been abandoned by
the mother or had fallen out the nest. For the past week there had been a
large specimen in the incubator that had captured the girl's
fascination.
What
was the bird going to look like when it hatched? On this particular day
she noticed the thin, flexible egg shell popping up slightly in one
spot and then another-the baby bird was trying to peck his way out!
Excited,
she took out her pocket knife and was going to carefully help her
little bird friend escape from the egg until a voice behind cried out
STOP! It was the director of the animal rescue center and she said,
"thank goodness I caught you before its too late. I know you meant well,
but that bird needs to struggle before it hatches or it won't be strong
enough to survive afterward."
Happily the baby bird pecked his way out of the egg two days later and went on to be strong and healthy.
This story and others can be found in my e-book Hypnotic Storytelling, available at Amazon and other online booksellers.
