Many parents can relate to Elizabeth and her teen daughters past situation. However, unlike the book wherein Baby does end up coming home, Elizabeth told me the true story behind the book:
“He (Baby) belonged to my son, Sam. He was an unusually friendly bird that seemed to enjoy exploring our home from the perch of someone’s shoulder. Often we would take Baby outside, but kept him in the confinement of his cage. My daughter seemed to have transposed her feelings of entrapment onto Baby and decided one day he didn’t need a cage outside. She defiantly placed him on her shoulder and preceded to head outside, thinking the bird loved her too much to fly away. He took off within 30 seconds. Baby was gone, no matter how many hours we spent calling and looking for him. We knew our region was not indigenous to his breed and our area could not offer the type of food or climate he needed. Baby would be easy prey for the hawk that took up residence in our neighborhood. Our hearts were broken. Needless to say, a very hard life lesson was learned that day."
Not wanting to rub the truth in her daughters face, Elizabeth suppressed the story for several years. Now with a much older and wiser daughter, Elizabeth decided it was time to share this life lesson so others could benefit from their family’s loss. It is her prayer that through the story of a young inexperienced bird, children can see that rules are a form of protection and, if obeyed, allow us a safe place to grow until we are mature enough to survive on our own.
Baby Come Home also offers another lesson for young readers stated Elizabeth. “When the rules are broken and rebellion is chosen, we call out to God; His love for us will bring us home with warm and welcoming arms. By the way," she adds, "you don’t have to be a rebellious teen. You could be a stubborn mom who foolishly thinks she has it all together (myself implied)."
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