Parenting is not a straightforward job, but few basic insights may be helpful, especially for young parents. “Parenting is the root of a better nation and society.” How a man/woman grows as a child is very effective in what he becomes and does for the society. Good parenting helps to grow a child with care and love to make him/her strong to face problems. Therefore, parents and teachers are making generations better. The eagles are the best example when it comes to learning about parenting. The eagle is the most dangerous bird, not because of its size or looks but its attitude and training from its childhood. When it rains, most birds head for shelter, but the eagle is the only bird that will fly above the cloud to avoid the rain. This makes it very different from other birds. The eagle is not the largest flying bird. The Andean condor is the largest flying bird in the world, but the eagle can fly higher than the Andean condor just because of its attitude. That’s why the eagle is called “The king of the birds” and “The king of the sky.”

Eagles are not born dangerous. It is their parenting style that makes eaglet to the eagle – “The king of the birds.” Eagles are mentioned in the Bible over thirty times and can teach us a lot about family life. First of all, they search for a mate. Then they raise their younger ones together as a couple, a pattern that humans are losing rapidly. Eagles build the largest nest at the peak of a tree’s branch. The largest bird’s nest was built by a pair of bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), and possibly their successors, near St Petersburg, Florida, USA, and measured 2.9 m (9 ft 6 in) wide and 6 m (20 ft) deep. It was examined in 1963 and was estimated to weigh more than two tones (4,409 lb). (From Guinness world records). So, no bird can reach to eagle’s nest, and eaglets are safe even in their parent's absence. This shows how protective eagles are for their eaglets.

Train baby with full family support: Both the male and female eagles are very protective of their babies. They help each other in the parenting of their babies. They instinctively know what their duties are when it comes to raising their younger ones. The female eagle selects an area for nesting and laying the eggs, and the male eagle builds the nest and takes care of the food. It takes 35 days to hatch the eggs, and around 9–10 weeks to fly. For that period, both male and female eagles play their vital roles to protect and feed the eaglets.

What do we have to learn from it? To raise good children, parents need to give their 100% to make their children lovable and caring persons. Both parents should take up equal but unique responsibilities in raising their children. A child’s health and well-being are important and it contributes to healthy, productive adolescence and adulthood. Parents have to nurture their kids so that they can grow up to be persons who are strong enough to support themselves and others around them. Having both parents in a child’s life is of immense vintage as they both play very distinct but interrelated roles in the psychological, emotional, social, educational, and spiritual development of a child.

Train strict: Eagles are very protective of their children, but when it comes to training, they never compromise anything. When an eaglet develops wings, the eagle holds him with its wings and goes to the highest point in the sky. Now it starts a dangerous part of the training. After reaching that height, the eagle drops the eaglet to make him feel that he is not a regular bird who just sits on the roof and never reaches above the cloud. This process continues until the eaglet learns to fly.

What do we have to learn from it? As parents, we have to learn that it is good to have an emotional attachment with the children, but not to make them dependable and irresponsible in life. Today’s parents fulfill all wishes of their children on instant demand and rarely explain the true value of things & life. It makes the child lame and lazy such that they never wish to take the risk anymore in life. Sometimes offering a finger to hold is better than giving a whole hand. Overloving and overprotecting our children may be more harmful to their overall development than helpful.

Freedom: The eagle takes care of the eaglets for 10–12 weeks until it can fly by itself. Then it takes another 1–2 months for the eaglets to learn from their parents and hone their flying and feeding skills. After that, the eagles give freedom to their babies and have no more control over them. Now it is their time to be independent, find mates for themselves, and make their own family skilfully.

What do we have to learn from it? We have a different kind of definition of independence. “Parents allow their children to do anything except allow them to be themselves.” Many times parents want to dictate their children’s biggest decisions – career, spouse, wedding, denomination, where to live, etc. It may not always be bad, but guidance, mentoring should be the approach especially as they attain adulthood. For the younger ones, parents must employ friendly tones to communicate the “WHY” of every instruction and use incentives to enhance their compliance. The more you sound autocratic to them, the more they rebel. There is a shirt in this house with the inscription – “rules are made to be broken”. So, don’t make rules. Instead, offer guidance. Effective relationships and active listening are major tools you should kindly learn.

Selah

Adapted from Dipesh Joshi's article on TRAIN YOUR CHILD LIKE AN EAGLE. Unfortunately, I could not get across to Dipesh to obtain permission to share this work, after at least 8 attempts. All rights on this work belong to the original author - Dipesh Joshi.

Selah Series 2021