A young boy was staying for the first time at his grandfather’s farm for the summer. He loved getting up early to feed the animals and complete his chores. He did this with his grandfather by his side at first, but then he started completing chores on his own.

One morning he was by himself collecting eggs in the hen house when he saw an egg moving on its own. He was excited to realize he was finally going to see a baby chick hatch from its egg. He watched as a small crack developed in the shell of the egg. He stared intently as the crack became bigger and small pieces of the shell started to fall off as a small hole developed. He could see the beak of the chick on the inside of the hole. The egg was moving more now as the chick struggled to get free. The boy thought the chick was in trouble. He didn’t want the chick to remain trapped in the egg. What if it can’t get out??

He decided to help the chick escape. He grabbed the egg with one hand and peeled pieces of the shell with the other. The hole became bigger and bigger until finally, the entire shell came apart and the chick was free! The boy was so happy to witness such a special event that he ran from the barn to the house to tell his grandfather. His grandfather was sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper.

“Papa, Papa! I just saw a chick hatch from the egg!”

“That is great sonny! What did you think of it?”

“Does that mean he’s going to die?” The boy’s eyes started to g eye to eye. 

“What do you mean you helped him?”

“Well, it didn’t look like he was going to get out of the shell. He was really struggling and the hole wasn’t big enough, so I took off pieces of the shell to make sure he could get out and he did!”

“I know you had the best intentions, but you shouldn’t have done that.”

“Why not? I was only trying to help.”

“Let me ask you. What do chickens eat?”

“Umm..well worms and insects and maybe some plants.” 

“Yes, and how do they eat those?

“They have to peck at them with their beaks.”

“That’s right. See, Nature designed the eggshell to be hard like that on purpose. The baby chick needs to peck at that shell to strengthen its neck so that it is able to eat and survive. By helping to open the egg, you deprived the chick of the chance to become strong.”

“Does that mean he’s going to die?” The boy’s eyes started to tear up.

“No, not here because we will take care of him. But in the wild, he would not have a good chance of survival.”

“Okay. Now I know that if something is a struggle or hard to do, it’s just teaching me to survive.”

“A wise observation. Now let’s make some breakfast.”