It seems best to go with one of our favorite story makers and time takers to start: The Birds. For any SAHDs out there that find this blog and want some ideas for easy learning, read on. For anyone out there that wonders how on earth I keep two young boys interested in birds, read on. For anyone who happens to be up too late with insomnia, read on, it might put you to sleep.

Family gave us both our feeders, that information lays the foundation. It seems that the process of raising family stems from the family, positive or negative. Leaving Freud alone, much needs to be realized about the blending of two perspectives into a family, but you can read that in your own self-help books.

We have two feeders, one is a seed feeder, and one is a suet feeder.For those not in the know, these will attract different types of birds to some extent. For example, Cardinals will not go to a suet feeder and they predominantly eat seeds (at least they will not go to our suet feeders). Every other bird we see will go to both. Suet is just fat, unless you buy the fancy kind with the seeds in it. Amazon holds a lot of my personal business, but you can also get suet from Home Depot, Lowes, and most any local hardware stores (Ace Hardware tends to have some funkier, more specific ones than other places), or if you have a local nursery like our AB Seed (speaking of AB Seed, they also provided us with the stuff to help keep the squirrels out of our seed feeder, but if you can also just sprinkle some cayenne pepper on the lip if you want). If you just want some cheap suet, you can try a local butcher shop, they may give you beef fat for free, then you just need the feeder.

Now, beyond the "how-to" stuff, if you have read anything on my #SAHD posts on Facebook, the part where Teague runs from the kitchen to the now piano/clothes drying/learning center room yelling, "BUUUUHHHHHD!!!!" is old news to you. However, the start of this whole process happened when visiting my parents. My boys showed a natural fascination with birds, especially the pileated woodpecker that wrapped itself around their small suet feeder. So we have a bird book, we identify birds we have not previously seen (like the Ruby Crowned Kinglet ), and my boys want to know more (this also concerns me because as I told my wife, there's a reason we never did an ornithology class in middle or high school. The birds we have seen at our feeder so far include the Whitebreasted Nuthatch and the Tufted Titmouse, these do not lend to non-giggling focus in boys ages 12+. Hopefully learning them early will get them over the silliness). This shows no reflection on my parenting other than capitalizing on a teachable moment (which, technically, my parents did, not me).

And perhaps, therein lies the pith of this post: my parents' experience with 5 kids and 8 grand kids (with at least one more on the way). That does not claim my parents as perfect, but how often do we miss these teachable moments? Birds are a vehicle for my boys to learn, and something I have always wanted to know more about as well. We have yet to even start on bird songs (which, by the way, WhatBird.com does a great job with for free in addition to bird identification). As a parent, what simple things do we pass up because we just do not pay attention due to our self-centered bias and impatience? And in this case, if we take the time to ask of others, could we preemptively prepare to make happen? My children do not inhabit the house of bird-curiosity alone. By the same token, not everyone is an ornithological nerd, and that's fine. However, if your kids show an interest, take the easy road paved by others. Then, you too can have your children flock to a window to scare away the birds they know by name.

Which leads me to my final thought, the one I daily forget, but should start each day with: I am not the first person on this road. I am not unique in my parenting struggles. I may have unique children, but there is nothing new under the sun. I alone am not left to struggle. Someone has gone before me, and whether or not you hear/agree with the Biblical overtones in those sentences, it holds true because of the extent of the human experience. It may take a village to raise a child, but it took a village to raise the parents of that child...a village those same parents often forget about in their parenting pity parties instead of using the cheap resources that surround them.