Peacocks: Friend or Foe?

We have a family of peacocks living at Kingswood. They stroll around right before sunrise and come out again at dusk. When the weather is cooperative they like to take afternoon walks. They are magical creatures, reminiscent of ancient times, that truly exemplify the beauty of nature. The preschool children scream with joy every time they see one, like if the bird was a super hero or their favorite cartoon character. Adults are also fascinated by them. Sometimes while giving tours, they decide to make a presence as to impress the new visitors. Sure enough they are always greeted by surprise and amazement by the new comers, and they ask me, "are the peacocks also part of the school," until recently my answer was always, "No."
Last October one of the upper elementary students came up to me very upset, apparently the peacock had eaten the pineapple she had so diligently planted with her friends. It turns out the peacocks like to eat all the seeds the children plant. This made all the bird's beauty and splendor disappear in the eyes of those children; all they saw now was a bird that destroyed all their hard work.
Yet the peacocks have caused us to come up with clever more efficient ways to make our gardens blossom. For example: researching plants that the peacocks dislike, and asking gardeners for their expert advice on building contraptions that will deter the birds from eating our seeds. The experience has taught the children the hard work that goes behind tending a garden, and appreciate more the fruits of their labor. Now and again the peacocks outsmart us and get away with their share of the harvest, but that only makes us want to continue to strive to be better. This process is called growth, and for that we are thankful to the peacocks! But besides all that, its still pretty cool to have peacocks at our school. :)