Every Wednesday, I’ll post about multiple intelligences so we can better understand children and why they do what they do.
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I’ve happily turned today’s blog over to Linda Depler, my long-time friend and personal assistant. You may have met her at a convention where she is the one ‘manning the booth’ and answering all your questions about our products. Read on…
A friend called me about three weeks ago and left a distressed message on my phone. “I found a baby bird. His eyes aren’t even open. We can’t keep him because of our cat. And besides, I don’t know how to care for him. But I knew you would. Please call me.”
We’ve been friends for many years and she knew me well. She knew I was nature smart and had rescued baby birds before. And although that rescue did not turn out well, she knew the experience had not paralyzed my nature-smart intelligence and I would be willing to try again.
So I called her and went to pick up “Buddy the Bird.” I purchased a can of powdered baby bird food at the pet store and began what was to be a rather intense routine of taking care of him.
When I was a young girl I couldn’t wait for school to get out for the summer so I could go to Grandma and Grandpa’s and stay for as much of the summer as my parents would let me. We lived in town and they lived in the country.
Grandma and Grandpa had dogs and cats and ducks and chickens. They had wooded fields we would hike around in and a creek with a swimming hole where we spent most of the day. We would catch crawdads and bullfrogs and go fishing. By day we would climb up on the slanted roof of the chicken house and use it as a slide. And by night we would lay on it looking up at the stars and talk about what we did that day and make plans for the next one. I loved it!
It was during those early years that my nature-smart intelligence was awakened. After marrying Rick, who is also nature smart, we did a lot of “roughin’ it” camping with our children. A few years ago we hiked the Grand Canyon with a group of friends. It was an amazing adventure and such incredible beauty. I enjoy being outside and I’m looking forward to more adventures like that when Rick retires.
Are you wondering about Buddy? At this writing he is just days away from being on his own. Through research (using my logic-smart skills), I learned many things about taking care of a baby bird. And although it was a fun and rewarding adventure, it’s not the first course of action one should take when finding a baby bird. The best thing is to try and put the baby back in the nest. The mother will welcome it back even when a human has touched it.
