You may have noticed in our latest issue Mike’s article for parents that discover their child has been exposed to sexual activity (WHEN THE WORST HAPPENS, June 2010). We’ve also made available for free an audio download called SEX EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN. This is because we sometimes get heartbreaking letters. The most heartbreaking ones have to do with children.

Yard chickens develop a natural pecking order. Mama hens brood and raise little chicks. Roosters protect the hens and vie for position. At least, that’s how it used to be.

Today, if you go to the feed store and get little chicks, you’ll find that brooding and natural mothering tendencies have been bred out of them. This is because corporate chicken farms need to have everything streamlined. This means that eggs are hatched in a hatchery and baby chicks are never taught to scratch for bugs by a mama hen.

If you place these distant descendants of yard chickens into an actual yard, they will be defenseless. The hens weren’t taught how to be mamas, so they don’t know how to teach the chicks. The roosters never learned from example either, so they bully rather than protect. These birds won’t know what to do when a hawk’s shadow flitters across the grass. In the chaos of that chicken yard, they’d all be easy pickings for the first predator to show up. Of course, the chicks would be the first to go.

So, what do you do when the chicks are in danger? You call to them. You cluck a warning. You show them where to hide and how to run to help. Chicks need to know that there are bad guys and they need to know how to stay safe.

That’s why I’ve been working, working, working to complete another children’s book called YELL AND TELL. I don’t know when it will be complete, but I’ll REALLY appreciate your prayers as things move forward. Keep watching my blog and No Greater Joy Magazine, and I’ll update you on the progress!