BIRDS COULD TEACH US SOMETHING ABOUT PARENTING.

Byline: Tracie Breiter

BEING a nature lover, I was thrilled to find a bird's nest nestled in the lower branches of my backyard tree. Never before had I observed the reproductive process of birds in a natural setting, and I was excited about the opportunity to finally do so.

When I pointed out the nest to my children, they too, were excited and immediately had to know how many eggs there were. Since the mother bird wasn't in sight, my daughter clambered up the tree. As she started to move in close to the nest to get a good view, her quest was cut short by a squawking blue jay that appeared out of nowhere and landed in the tree.

Moments later, a second blue jay joined the first, their warning calls obviously directed at my daughter. She got the message and was on the ground in seconds.

It was clear that these birds were the parents of the eggs. And for the entire time that their offspring resided in our back yard, they worked together to watch over their babies, warding off anyone who got too close.

I was amazed and quite moved to see that these creatures with tiny brains had enough sense to protect and care for their young.

Human beings also posses this innate characteristic, but evidently some type of weird evolution is taking place. Parents no longer part with their young children kicking and screaming.

In Georgetown, Del., a federally funded day care center conducts business by going to the homes of pregnant women and newborns to convince parents that their children would be better off in day care rather than cared for at home. Instead of being outraged at these brainwashing tactics, some parents have complacently agreed to relinquish the care of their children to these strangers, even in cases where the mother stayed home.

In Thousand Oaks, a recently opened child care center is luring parents by promoting its state-of-the-art facility and quality program. One plus of the $1.7 million innovative design allows the children to safely play outside, in order to reduce or eliminate aggressive behavior that can occur in kids who are confined to the indoors. And, boasting some of the highest teacher-to-student ratios, the center's developmental program promises to look at each child as an individual and meet his or her individual needs.

Apparently, this malarkey is working. The 111 openings are filling up quickly.

For those parents who are waffling between day care and no day care, there's the recently released findings of a study conducted by the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to consider.

The study showed that children whose mothers worked for the first three years of their lives suffered no ill effects. In fact, there is some evidence the children benefited.

I have no doubts that parents will be influenced by these results and happily sign up their children in the nearest day care center with guilt-free minds.

We humans use the term bird-brain as a synonym for stupid.

Comparing the blue jays' behavior with ours, all I can say is, go figure.