Mama Robot

If I say, “Mama Bear is comin out”… y’all know what I mean. If I say, “Mama Robot is comin out”, you may only know what I am talking about if you’ve recently read Peter Brown’s The Wild Robot.

How a man thru the eyes of a robot captured the genuine struggle of a mother’s heart, I may never understand.

To set the stage… A robot ended up on a uninhabited island, raising a gosling, from egg to goose.

It was time for the gosling, Brightbill, to learn to swim. But let’s be realistic here… robots can’t get wet. So, Roz the robot had to trust the gosling would be ok while he learned an important life lesson. She was conflicted because it was her mission, her computerized instinct to protect Brightbill, and on the water she knew she could not.

Roz waited on the shore and watched the young gosling paddle too far left and too far right. An old goose hollered that he was doing great. Roz tried to sound like a good mother, “Yes, Brightbill, you are a natural!”

Then danger erupted. The gosling needed help. The robot’s instincts were to go and help, but she also knew if she went into the pond she would no longer function. The gosling was panicking. The robot was lurching forward and backwards and hollering at him to swim to her quickly. Could he make it back? Would he be ok? Should she sacrifice herself?

Then the old goose came to the rescue. Robot and gosling were reunited.

Ummmm. Yep, that’s parenting in a nut shell. Or a goose egg I guess. My instinct to save, help, rescue, correct my kids (sometimes at the expense of my own well-being) vs the intuition to let them learn their own lessons in life and to just be there to encourage and cheer them on… oof. Sometimes it’s a tough decision, especially when the stakes are high.

Gotta keep my Mama Bear and my Mama Robot in check and let these cubs and goslings learn their lessons and experience life on their terms. At the same time, making sure to hibernate (nap?) and charge my batteries when needed, so when they need me to step in… Boom, I’m there.

*I highly recommend reading The Wild Robot. I literally almost cried on one part. It’s a robot without feelings, and a goose for crying out loud. Kudos to you Peter Brown.