The other night I went out to collect our chicken and duck eggs. Usually the kids do this chore but we had a busy day and didn't get home until after dark.

I went into the coop with my flashlight and poked around to find the eggs (the hens like to hide them in different places so we're never quite sure where they are). While I was doing that, one of the ducks got spooked and managed to run past me and out into the woods.

If you don't know anything about ducks, let me just tell you that they are really hard to catch in a fenced area with two people, let alone in an open space by yourself. They're quick and have a good sense of strategy.

So there I was on a freezing cold night (single digits), trying to coax this errant duck back into the coop.

I first thought that if I walked away from the coop, she'd go inside.

Nope. The duck stayed right where she was, quacking loudly, as I watched from a distance.

Then I tried to walk around the coop in hopes of forcing her to walk towards the coop door.

Nope. She just ran past the door and into the woods, still quacking.

So then I walked around in the woods to try to coax her into a different direction, all the while hoping that the duck - let alone me - wouldn't run into some wild animal.

That attempt got the duck on the edge of the door but then she suddenly jumped and ran off into the woods again.

At this point I told the duck she was "(expletive) out of luck" and I shut the coop door. The whole situation was ridiculous. But as I walked away, the kids started yelling from the kitchen door that I couldn't leave the "poor duck."

"Mommy, you have to help her!" yelled L.

"Well you come out here and help me," I said.

"It's too cold for me Mommy, I'm in my pjs."

"Me too mom!" said G.

"You can't let her get eaten (by the wild animals) Mom! That would be so sad!" said L.

I knew the duck couldn't survive the night outside the coop. And we had raised her from the time she was a duckling and well, I am a bleeding heart.

So I stayed outside for a few more rounds of Walk Around the Coop. Then FINALLY, the duck waddled back inside.

When Fino got home and I told him what had happened he said, "Man, I think it might be time for Peking duck."

Mothers and fathers, they each have their own approach to things.