Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Proud parents come in all shapes and sizes

The scene: the empty carpark at the local swimming pool. Dark clouds gather on the horizon, threatening. A mother gathers her babies about her, anxiously scanning for traffic.

The Misters are back at swimming lessons. Which means that the race from school gate to pool is on again. Twenty minutes from bell to the first splash, via a quick snack, changing from uniform to what Mr4 calls 'swimming underpants' and a hurried 'how was school?' update. It's a finely timed operation.

The scene: deciding that the coast is clear, the mother lines her babies up. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. You can almost hear them sounding off like the Von Trapp children as she makes sure they're all there.

At 3.15pm, we pull up out the front of the heated pool. Across the road, the open-air pool is closed, awaiting the long weekend and the warm weather. As I unbuckle my seatbelt, I glance across the deserted carpark, surprised that there are so few cars here yet. And that's when I see them...

The scene: Dad appears from nowhere to bring up the rear of the line. There are so many of them and they have a long way to go. Between them, the parents frogmarch their little charges to the edge of the carpark. They stand near the kerb, watching, waiting. The road in front of them, a standard suburban street, appears vast.

"Quick!" I shout, racing around to let the boys out of the car. "Look!" I point to the little family, taking its first tentative steps onto the street.

"Ducklings!" shouts Mr7. Mr4 claps his hands. We all stand and watch, breaths held as we watch the line of fluffy ducklings, sandwiched at either end by their ever-vigilant parents, make a break across the street.

"There aren't any cars coming, are there Mum?" asks Mr4, worried.

"Those lookouts will let them know," says Mr7, pointing out the two ducks standing, as though on guard, nearby.

The scene: the ducklings flap and waddle and wiggle their way across to the other side, and the safety of the river bank. Mum and Dad Duck stand on the verge, watching as, one by one, they slip and slide and slither their way down the grassy hill towards the water below. Proud parents.

We watch them until they disappear over the rise. At which point I realise the time, line the boys up and we skiddle and skaddle and run helter skelter toward our first lesson of the season. Where Mr4 did the best 'big arms' ever, and Mr7 received a 'good' from the notoriously tough teacher. Proud parent.

[image: via dreams that glitter xo]

21 comments:

  1. Hee hee.
    So sweet.
    From both perspectives.
    :-)

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  2. Ducks crossing the road can make even the most hardened cynic stop in wonder, I reckon.

    Ducklings and swimming - spring is sprung...

    xx

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  3. In my world right now there are chickens. A thousand chooks all with little chooklets. 'Cept here, they don't cross the road - they own it. Because Bali roads aren't crazy enough, they needed cute little balls of feathers at every intersection.

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  4. Hehe very sweet, and very well written. x

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  5. aww all that skiddle and skaddle sounds cute and brave.

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  6. Well that is just gorgeous! I love ducklings. How could you not?!

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  7. Whenever I see a large family, I stop and take notes. How do they do it? Amazing.
    I get sympathetic looks when I take my 3 to swimming, imagine 7? 7 wet, sticky bodies, shivering back into their clothes, socks dropping to the wet tiles. Crikey. Good on them.

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  8. That would have been just gorgeous to see. Beautifully written, yet again Al. xx

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  9. Brilliant writing :) I love a post that makes me read it twice.. Just to make sure I didn't miss anything first time!

    Such a sweet story :)

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  10. oh wow, what a wonderful thing to see and a moment to hold on to forever. What a treat for the Mr's to see!

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  11. I love watching new baby ducklings. Hooray for the best "big arms" and congratulations on the "good".

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  12. I often feel like a mother duck with her baby ducklings waddling behind. Great image in your story. Glad the Misters are rocking it! We are back in the pool too. Slowly, slowly! x

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  13. That's awesome. Love the imagery.

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  14. What a fun scene to see! I'm sure your little ones will remember it for a long time. Happy SITS Day!

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  15. Perfect! I love moments like those!

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  16. Great story, I can picture the whole thing in my head and it's so cute. Thanks for making me smile. X

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  17. I love to watch other animals do naturally what I have to work at. We had a family of wild turkeys in our neighborhood all lay year that we watched grow. It was so awesome to see the parents in action.

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  18. Such a sweet story. Visiting from SITS Girls.

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  19. sweet story... proud parenting does come in different ways!

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