Ducklings

Today's the day ................... to sit on your offspring

I nearly didn't spot this little duckling at all as I looked down on Mrs Mallard from the riverbank. Then, the ground beneath her started to move and before long, there were six of them - all preening themselves and pretending to be grown up.

Mrs M waddled her way towards the river and dived in, closely followed by three of the ducklings. The other three just stayed where they were and carried on with the preening. She had to come back and give them the duck equivalent of a good talking to before they jumped in too. Meanwhile, the first three were off doing their own thing and making steady progress downstream.

And I just thought - it's the same the world over. It's fine when they're young enough to sit on them and they do what you tell them. In no time at all, though, they start growing up and think they know best - and you're either trying to persuade them to do something, or stop them from rushing off and doing something else ..........?!