Motherhood!…….Part 3 {Lessons from Mother Hen}

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Strong motherhood instincts are not restricted to humans alone! Other self-conscious creatures like animals and birds sometimes exhibit these instincts to even heroic levels!
An everyday example is Mother-Hen! The pure, natural, domestic mother hen! Her selfless, diligent care and protection for her tender chicks are legendary although, we humans mock her efforts as doting and fussing! Pamper your children and get labeled a mother hen!
All the same, mother hen has some attributes of a true mother!
With deft scratching, pecking and clucking, she not only caters for the food needs of her chicks but, gradually teaches them how to feed and fend for themselves.
As the chicks grow, she relaxes control and rummaging on their behalf! She mostly watches over and alerts them of dangers like a hovering hawk or an approaching fox/snake! With time, she deliberately chases the grown-ups away as a signal that they should stop clinging to her and get on with their lives!
Interestingly, after separating from them she later becomes friends and companions or even competitors with the maturing birds!
Happily, there are mothers and mothers who have refined mother hen’s principles and lifted them to artistic levels! First, they use the rod for discipline (not high-handed punishment) and to “teach the child in the way he/she should go”!
At the appropriate age, they teach the physically maturing child how to fish, i. e, provide the opportunities for necessary training, education and wherewithal for the child to live a productive life! Thereafter, they retire to the background and allow the child to do battle, to savor victory or lick the wounds of defeat; to grapple with the twists and turns of life and to proverbially, eat from the sweat of his/her brow!
They do not abandon the child but, like good teachers, they do not unduly interfere to make the child’s life ‘a bed of roses’ or, insist that he/she must first submit every decision for their approval! They relate with the child with spiritual discernment as demanded by the Living Laws of Creation!
That way the child greatly values every act of kindness or support extended to him/her by the parents and does not claim it as of right! The child is given the impetus to grow in self-reliance, in inner strength and above all, to mature spiritually which is why the soul incarnated on earth, in the first place!
These are the mothers who know of the fine, spiritual threads weaving around every birth and motherhood; who know that children are much more than heirs to personal properties and family lineage! They understand that, first and foremost, children are fellow-souls who are seeking ennoblement through experiencing on earth!
You might argue that this is a parenting issue which equally applies to fathers/men! True, but the strongest caution has to be addressed to mothers/women because, in most cases, they are the closest during the weaning and growing ages of children and more guilty of hanging on to parent-childhood sentiments longer than necessary! To Dear Mom, 30-year old Billy is still ‘my little Billy’; my little boy!

One last advice for all dear Moms:… shower your children with motherly love up to the appropriate age! As they mature and their spirits break through, seek to connect with them spiritually through mutual friendship and not motherhood claims. If not, you have lost them, even if they are obedient and subservient to your wishes and desires! Inwardly, you and your children are mutual strangers and strange bed-fellows under one roof!