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Park frustration

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Re: Park frustration

Postby Mr.Darcy » Wed Jul 21, 2010 11:02 pm

No question the manners of the kids begin at home with the parents, that said, you are bringing your pets into a kids playground. They cannot appreciate all the hard work all bird owners put into training and caring for the birds, they are just simply in awe of our pets! It is not a common site to see someone out with a parrot. Dogs, cats and even ferrets,yes. I can also understand that none us want to have our pets accosted by strangers, and we know that parrots can be very delicate. Lets take some time to educate the kids/strangers. Not create fear base of the birds by telling everyone they bite! Just my humble opinion...
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Re: Park frustration

Postby The Man » Wed Jul 21, 2010 11:02 pm

Michael wrote:No. I will have to completely disagree. I realize that it's a public park and anyone can watch. However, no one has the right to start touching without permission. It is not only rude but also dangerous. It is the parents' responsibility to teach their own kids and when I run into problems it is because they do not. I don't have a problem with curious kids that want to watch and learn. It's the ones that are worse behaved than my parrots that I am concerned about.

I don't let my parrots run off and start biting/touching other people's children so the least I'd expect is that parents don't let their kids touch my birds. Most of the time this is the case, but some of the parents are really something else, so it's no wonder that the kids are messed up.
So when people walk in the park with their dogs and somebody pets them, that person has 'bad manners'?

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Re: Park frustration

Postby Michael » Wed Jul 21, 2010 11:25 pm

Mr.Darcy wrote:Lets take some time to educate the kids/strangers. Not create fear base of the birds by telling everyone they bite! Just my humble opinion...


Ok, if you've been following anything I've written in the past, you'd know that I am normally quite patient and do my best to educate about parrots. Often times I'll let the kids hold and pet the parrots after I can show them what to do. This is more so for socializing the parrots, but it's a good opportunity to teach the public as well. As spokesperson of this forum I always try to solicit new membership. I made cards to give out to interested parrot owners so they can come join the discussion. Don't get me wrong, I do try a lot. But there are days when they kids are just too much and I just want to work with my parrots that it's easier to just say they bite than to deal with kids that don't listen.
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Re: Park frustration

Postby notscaredtodance » Wed Jul 21, 2010 11:39 pm

I understand the kids thing. Sometimes inquisitive little kids ask to hold a ferret and ask questions, and even if they're not "smart" questions I happily answer. It's the kids that run from cage to cage and say, CAN I HOLD THIS. CAN I HOLD THIS. CAN I HOLD THIS. that I eventually make up rules for, saying you can only hold 5 animals, or that those ones bite.

Sometimes its just not worth it.


And I've noticed that bad kids tend to come from bad parents, parents who are set in their ways, so its too late for the kid as far as I'm concerned. If you work in law enforcement you should know that deliquents dont usually come out of well adjusted house holds.

There's a reason I work with animals and have decided on making a life commitment to my parrot, rather than a family and child. I've given up on people, pretty much.
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Re: Park frustration

Postby Kim S » Thu Jul 22, 2010 4:36 am

The Man wrote:
Michael wrote:No. I will have to completely disagree. I realize that it's a public park and anyone can watch. However, no one has the right to start touching without permission. It is not only rude but also dangerous. It is the parents' responsibility to teach their own kids and when I run into problems it is because they do not. I don't have a problem with curious kids that want to watch and learn. It's the ones that are worse behaved than my parrots that I am concerned about.

I don't let my parrots run off and start biting/touching other people's children so the least I'd expect is that parents don't let their kids touch my birds. Most of the time this is the case, but some of the parents are really something else, so it's no wonder that the kids are messed up.
So when people walk in the park with their dogs and somebody pets them, that person has 'bad manners'?

-The Man



YES! I always learned to ASK first before petting anybody's pet. Not all dogs are childfriendly or even people friendly!

I'm with Michael on this one. People should teach their children to ask first.
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Re: Park frustration

Postby MandyG » Thu Jul 22, 2010 8:57 am

Michael wrote:No. I will have to completely disagree. I realize that it's a public park and anyone can watch. However, no one has the right to start touching without permission. It is not only rude but also dangerous. It is the parents' responsibility to teach their own kids and when I run into problems it is because they do not. I don't have a problem with curious kids that want to watch and learn. It's the ones that are worse behaved than my parrots that I am concerned about.

I don't let my parrots run off and start biting/touching other people's children so the least I'd expect is that parents don't let their kids touch my birds. Most of the time this is the case, but some of the parents are really something else, so it's no wonder that the kids are messed up.


I agree that no one has the right to touch without permission (whether it's a dog, bird, or any other animal!) and it really is bad manners caused by poor parenting.

Michael wrote:
Mr.Darcy wrote:Lets take some time to educate the kids/strangers. Not create fear base of the birds by telling everyone they bite! Just my humble opinion...


Ok, if you've been following anything I've written in the past, you'd know that I am normally quite patient and do my best to educate about parrots. Often times I'll let the kids hold and pet the parrots after I can show them what to do. This is more so for socializing the parrots, but it's a good opportunity to teach the public as well. As spokesperson of this forum I always try to solicit new membership. I made cards to give out to interested parrot owners so they can come join the discussion. Don't get me wrong, I do try a lot. But there are days when they kids are just too much and I just want to work with my parrots that it's easier to just say they bite than to deal with kids that don't listen.


From your videos it's easy to see that you do have some patience with the children. You do answer some of their questions, and them begging to see Kili play dead shows that you've taken the time to show them some of the neat things she does. But for the days when the kids are 'just too much' and you just want to work with your parrots maybe you should go to a place that does not have children? The kids at that park know who you are and are excited to see you with the birds, you know that and you know that they'll want to run up and watch (and some of them want to touch). So when you want to work with the birds uninterrupted wouldn't it be more productive to not go to an area where you know there will be children and distractions for the birds?

Kids don't see things the way adults do. If you've let some of them hold and pet the parrots before they might not understand that just because they got to do it before that doesn't mean it's ok this time. That has to be explained to them. I know it's not your job to parent other people's children, but it's not fair to get frustrated with the kids when they're just being kids and don't mean any harm. They don't understand why it was ok last time but this time you're telling them the birds bite and can't be touched.
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Re: Park frustration

Postby Michael » Thu Jul 22, 2010 9:19 am

It's murphy's law. There are days when I am totally up for having kids holding the parrots and no one even comes by. Then other days when I'm really not in the mood or the parrots are peeved, they come in swarms. There aren't really any other places to go except walking along streets with them, but nowhere to put them down outside.

But as I said, this was a one time occurrence where frustration mounted. The #1 reason I didn't want anyone touching the birds this time was because of the kid with the budgies. I don't know who or how many have touched those, so I really didn't want to take any chances with anyone touching my birds. Try explaining that, illness, etc. Sometimes it's just easier to say they bite and then the kids don't even want to touch.
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Re: Park frustration

Postby The Man » Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:32 pm

Kim S wrote:
The Man wrote:
Michael wrote:No. I will have to completely disagree. I realize that it's a public park and anyone can watch. However, no one has the right to start touching without permission. It is not only rude but also dangerous. It is the parents' responsibility to teach their own kids and when I run into problems it is because they do not. I don't have a problem with curious kids that want to watch and learn. It's the ones that are worse behaved than my parrots that I am concerned about.

I don't let my parrots run off and start biting/touching other people's children so the least I'd expect is that parents don't let their kids touch my birds. Most of the time this is the case, but some of the parents are really something else, so it's no wonder that the kids are messed up.
So when people walk in the park with their dogs and somebody pets them, that person has 'bad manners'?

-The Man



YES! I always learned to ASK first before petting anybody's pet. Not all dogs are childfriendly or even people friendly!

I'm with Michael on this one. People should teach their children to ask first.
You are absolutely right, I'm sure after they heard not to touch a hot stove or talk to strangers, this was immediately followed by them being told not to touch parrots in the local park. Seeing a parrot in the park is a little different than a dog on his stroll. You will see thousands of dogs, but when somebody brings a parrot around you must expect the attention you are going to recieve.

-The Man
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Re: Park frustration

Postby The Man » Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:39 pm

Michael wrote:There have been other times where kids would just run up to the parrot throw their fingers in and my Kili would make me proud and give them a good nip. Those kind of kids would run away and never come back. Luckily Kili doesn't bite that hard so I won't get in trouble. :mrgreen:
It's amazing that all of you can pass judgement on to all of these kids from the park for displaying curiosity, and read this post without concern.

-The Man
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Re: Park frustration

Postby MandyG » Thu Jul 22, 2010 1:06 pm

The Man wrote:
Michael wrote:There have been other times where kids would just run up to the parrot throw their fingers in and my Kili would make me proud and give them a good nip. Those kind of kids would run away and never come back. Luckily Kili doesn't bite that hard so I won't get in trouble. :mrgreen:
It's amazing that all of you can pass judgement on to all of these kids from the park for displaying curiosity, and read this post without concern.

-The Man


I kind of agree with Michael to an extent on this one. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's ok for a person's pet to bite children, regardless of the type of animal. While I think it's natural (and perfectly acceptable) for children to be excited and curious and to want to touch the animals, I absolutely do NOT think it's ok for them to run up and grab or poke at the birds. Their parents obviously have not taught them that it's dangerous to touch animals that are not familiar to them, and not only dangerous, it's very rude. If they get a nip for doing so then maybe they will learn that it's not ok to touch other people's animals without permission. It's better that they learn from a small, undamaging nip than to run up to a Macaw or other large bird and recieve a serious bite that bleeds or even breaks fingers. From an owner's point of view I would never be proud that my animal bit somebody, but from a parent or child's point of view I think it's better that they learn that very important lesson with only minor consequences.
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