Penguins make great parents

I borrowed a movie from the library yesterday.  It's called March of the Penguins.  Yes, it's rated G.  How unusual!  A G-rated movie.

So, you might think it was just for kids.  Not necessarily.  It's an 80-minute documentary about the life of penguins--their breeding ritual, the risks they take to breed, their predators.  Such a long walk in frigid cold weather in order to bring new life into this world.  And then when an egg is created, the father has to keep it warm underneath him while the mother toddles off to find the water from which she came in order to fill up on fish so she can feed her offspring.  It's a joint effort between the mother and father that has to be done successfully if the new little penguin is to survive.

So I learned some things about penguins after watching this film.  And it also made me think about humans and the way we raise our young.  Ideally, both moms and dads should contribute to raising the kids.  But we all know that's not always the case.  We have mothers who'd rather party, do drugs or go shopping than stay home and take care of their child.  We have deadbeat dads who shirk their responsibilities because they can't handle parenthood/being tied down.

It's a shame humans can't be more like penguins.  The loving dance of moving the child back and forth between them--taking turns keeping it safe and cared for.  They know something we don't know.

And we could learn from them.