Spectacular spring weather led us down today to an enticing bend of the Yarra River in Warrandyte. My four year old son had one thing on his mind – feeding the ducks, and came armed to the task with half a loaf of stale bread. My heart swelled with pride as my little animal lover offered his precious pieces of duck food to three nearby children.
“Would you like to feed the ducks too?” he asked in one of his best displays of sharing ever.
As his new friends took the bread the children’s mother snatched it out of their young hands while simultaneously giving me the all time mother stare of death. I assumed they were a family of coeliacs for whom the gluten in the bread represented significant and imminent health peril and we went back to our task. I did however wonder if I was being paranoid as I noticed other parents give me dirty looks too.
We were down to our last slice of bread when I noticed the sign behind us.
The penny dropped – in letting my son feeding the ducks I had unwittingly been putting the lives of our feathered friends at risk. I had been threatening the natural eco-system. I had been encouraging cross breeding with domestic ducks. I was an environmental vandal. Or was I?
The Yarra River in Warrandyte – the scene of my crime.
I am not an environmental scientist nor am I an expert on ducks. It is possible that a thorough environmental risk assessment has been performed by council and that kids feeding ducks is, as the sign infers bad news. It is however likely that banning the feeding of ducks at a stretch of the Yarra as it runs past a kids playground and adjacent bakery does nothing but encourage parent shaming, something that as I am now onto my third child I am well and truly over.
What do you think? Is banning kids feeding ducks just another example of Big Brother gone coco-bananas? Is feeding the ducks one of childhood’s simple pleasures on the way out?
Should I be hanging my head in shame for even questioning that feeding ducks may be okay?
Are you an environmental scientist who can actually give me an informed answer?
As for us, I hurriedly stuffed our last slice of bread into my as usual over-packed nappy back and we tucked into our own picnic. I tried not to smile as I watched at least three other mothers bring their left-over bread down to the river, miss the sign and do exactly as we had done.
