If we are parents, we raise our children with the goal that they will grow up and leave our home to make a life for themselves. And yet, when this occurs, we often fret about the “empty nest” that is left behind.
I thought about this recently when I watched a pair of robins raise their young. If you’ve had this privilege, you know that robins are terrific parents. First they build a sturdy round nest in a safe place—high up in a tree, perhaps, or on top of your porch light, as they did with us.
While the female incubates the eggs, the male stays nearby to guard and to sing. Then, when the babies are hatched, both adults take turns feeding them. It’s a big job, trying to fill those wide-open beaks, but it’s time limited. In just over two weeks, the young birds are encouraged to leave the nest—and they do.
I’ve watched a new chick teeter on a limb, trying to figure out how to get to the next branch and the next. Because they don’t go home again, not ever. Neither do their parents. There’s no hanging around the empty nest. When the kids take wing, so do the adults.
It’s something to think about.
