Correlation between sex of owner and food management (Poll)

[kaylayuh]

I'm not implying that. But I'm asking if opinion on child feeding impacts opinion on bird feeding. If someone states that they would give snacks to kids between meals and would free feed parrots, that shows a similar line of thinking. But if someone says that kids should only be fed at meal times and never in between but supports always free feeding parrots, that would show a divergence in thoughts on feeding between species.

I'll come out and say that I believe specific feeding schedules benefit both parrots and children as well as their guardians. I believe food scheduling is a win/win for all

I believe children (well, all humans) should eat three small meals a day with healthy snacks in between. This tends to go along the lines of what most nutritionists and doctors say. Small frequent meals and snacks keep the metabolism up. Do I think a kid should have McDonald's for breakfast and lunch, a pack of Oreos for snacks, and then Burger King and ice cream for dinner and dessert? Absolutely not.

In the same way, I believe my birds should be able to eat when they please. They don't eat all day long and fly frequently throughout the day. They have access to pellets and seeds/oats/rice/dried fruit all day. They get fresh foods in the morning and evening.

[jayebird]

However, in my life I've seen far more women trying to force feed kids (or guests). On the other hand I see men take more of an approach of "if you don't want to eat, then don't." I'm not basing this on anything beyond what I think I've observed and I was curious if it correlates to how we feed parrots.

This is your hypothesis. You have anecdotal observations that are tinged with your opinion which you have based your assumption on: "women are more likely to/often force-feed their children and the people around them" and you now want to connect this to an equally biased conclusion: "do they force-feed their pets, too?"

Not only is that an extremely anecdotal observation/method, and unscientific at best, it's also sexist. You're a male posing this question, so you need to be made aware that the way you're posing the question, and justifying it, can easily be interpreted as offensive. Please don't argue with that, just accept it. There's a different way to go about it.

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By the way, I've never actually fed a child young enough to need my help and I have no idea how I'd go about it...so does that affect the validity or value of my answer if I were to answer your poll?

[Julsiebean]

I've tried really hard to stay quiet and out of this thread, but I'm getting riled up. It is VERY easy to say what you would and would not do as a parent- and then you become one and the game changes. You cannot apply all of the same logics to raising kids as you can your flock.

[kaylayuh]

It is VERY easy to say what you would and would not do as a parent- and then you become one and the game changes. You cannot apply all of the same logics to raising kids as you can your flock.

For instance, I would totally lock my (future) kids in a closet, but never my birds! Just kidding, though I did threaten to lock a kid I was babysitting in the "bad kids closet" with the boogeyman once. Kid straightened up right quick and the mom thought it was hilarious.

That said, I totally agree with you. Raising kids and birds are completely different. I've spent enough time with kids I've babysat to know I'd never force feed them, but for the rest of the stuff, who knows until I have kids. On the other hand, I've lived my entire 22 years with birds of some sort and I know pretty well what I can and can't do to have an effective relationship with them.