Playing for Chickens

From "A MINUTE FOR CAREGIVERS- When Every Day Feels Like Monday."

Playing for Chickens

There’s an old story of a farmer who struggled to find ways to help his chickens lay more eggs. After trying numerous techniques, he heard of the beneficial effects of music and tried playing the flute for his chickens to help them lay more eggs. Sitting beside the coop, he diligently spent hours at a time performing beautiful songs in hopes of providing a better “egg-laying” environment.

After doing this for several weeks, he noticed the number of eggs never changed. Although tempted to be discouraged, he continued playing for his chickens. After watching this activity for some time, a neighbor finally asked the farmer why he kept playing his flute for the chickens when it did not affect their laying eggs.

The farmer replied, “The egg count didn’t improve, but my music did.”

As caregivers, we may try all sorts of things to improve or help our loved ones. Their challenges, however, remain beyond our control. We can, however, improve ourselves in the journey and quite possibly discover beautiful music along the way.

When we are no longer able to change a situation—we are challenged to change ourselves. —Victor Frankl