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lolsavannahh
04-23-2016, 02:06 AM
In my opinion, kids under the age of 15 should never be allowed to personally own a bird... Their family may have one and that is okay.. but to be honest I don't trust children with birds..

Another forum I am on has a recent commenter who is obviously 9 or 10 commenting ( very very bad grammar and obvious lack of knowledge on birds ) who is very interested on owning birds- yes, she wants several- and I feel really uneasy.

She has claimed to have lost 16- SIXTEEN- other pets some way or another... and is now set on one of the hardest animals to take care of.. She goes to school 9 hours a day and then dance from when she gets home to 8 o'clock at night she says.. and wants 2 cockatiels. She says she is afraid of the bites " but knows if she loves them enough they won't bite her anyways"...

I know nothing I can say will make her change her mind, and it would be rude to think so.. but I just fear so much for the bird she may obtain. She is getting them from petland ( woohoo..... ) and is going to always clip their wings. She can't afford a large cage, but somehow plans to have them out a lot even though she said she is never home..

SO this brings me to my point of discussion.. Should kids under the age of 15 have birds?

I do understand that some kids are very responsible... but in general. A kid with a very bird oriented mother or father is also a different story, I am just talking about the kid mostly taking care of the fid themselves.. Opinions???

Lady
04-23-2016, 02:17 AM
The child you described no, but like you stated not all children under the age of 15 are that way. I do however still think they are children and the parent has to take on the responsibility mostly if they don't then it could become very tragic for the bird. Children change their minds like we change our socks and it is difficult as they grow so fast to have a pet be the way they learn responsibility all to themselves. The parent has to own the pet and share some of the responsibility to the child so the pet doesn't suffer.

kendrafitz
04-23-2016, 02:21 AM
I am going to preface this by saying technically, Rosie is my daughter's macaw. She was 7 when we brought Rosie home. However, Rosie is really mine and she is completely my responsibility.

Here is my thought on kids having any pet that is "theirs". If the family is on board and an adult is going to take care of the pet and the pet is theirs in name only until they are adults, I think it is fine. If a parent obtains a pet and believes the child will be solely responsible, not so much. My kids can't even pick their clothing up off their floor most of the time. If our animals had to depend on either of them solely, they would be in big trouble. Now I know there are many responsible children. But being solely responsible for another living thing is a huge undertaking. Just my two cents...

Mare
04-23-2016, 04:55 AM
I agree with what Alice and Kendra said. Savannah, have you voiced your concern to this young person? Do you know whether there will be responsible adults to take over where needed?

Amigo was "technically" Wyatt's, too..but he, now a full blown adult, is always quick to point out to me,,"Mom, you were driving..I didn't even have a drivers license, yet!!" Smart ass kid :(

spiritbird
04-23-2016, 12:44 PM
To keep it simple in this comment I believe any young child who may or may not be supervised by an adult does not have the skills to really take care of any type of pet.

Penny
04-23-2016, 10:28 PM
I think it is highly dependent on the child whether or not they should have responsibility for an animal. My younger daughter is much more attentive to what animals need than my elder so I can trust her with more pet related responsibilities even at 14. That being said, the adult has responsibility for the child, meaning it is also the adults responsibility to make sure that the child's responsibilities are met and that the slack is picked up if the child does not meet those needs.

lolsavannahh
04-24-2016, 02:46 AM
I agree with what Alice and Kendra said. Savannah, have you voiced your concern to this young person? Do you know whether there will be responsible adults to take over where needed?


Well considering the trouble voicing my opinion has landed me, I have not. I will not be able to change this girls mind, and even though it would be ideal for her to be older and in a better place, she would never listen to someone on the internet tell her what to do. I Really don't see the point. I am, although, teaching her very thorough care and time/money it will cost for a parrot so hopefully she is aware what she's getting herself into

The Pinkertons
04-24-2016, 03:00 AM
Savannah , your on the right track, teaching by example will certainly give her food for thought. :goodjob:

lolsavannahh
04-29-2016, 02:55 AM
HOLY nuts! This little girl is just driving me insane! I am not one to complain much but I need to rant!

This girl is just so misinformed.. and is coming to a forum to ask ALL of her questions instead of doing hours of research with reputable sites and it's driving me insane! She didn't know that you need to clip a birds nails and beak sometimes.. and when I told her her avian vet could do it she was like " Oh I don't have a vet anywhere near me. I'll do it myself".. So of course I said that at it would be better to have someone else do it since she's young and will not be able to properly handle the bird, and that she probably just shouldn't get a bird unless an avian vet is nearby and she just straight up lied and said " Oh we're moving soon so we will be near one"........ Why is she just NOW bringing that up.. If it were true she would have mentioned it at first.
She's also wanting to clip his/her wings and keep them like that.. and I keep trying to emphasize the benefits of not clipping wings and she won't hear me out.. Aside from that she is now wanting to BREED HER BIRDS because she thinks babies are 'so cute xD'... I need this girl to stop or I'm going to lose my temper on her!!!!

Casper's 2nd best friend
04-29-2016, 09:26 AM
Just try and put her off until she meets a boy and then forgets all about pets.

Do you know about her family situation? Does she have parents, a parent or a guardian?

Maybe she hasn't mentioned this yet to her superiors who will flatly refuse to let her have a bird, she will then have a teen tantrum going "I hate you, I hate you" and storm off to her room.

Although as she has been 'through' a number of other poor critters this is an unlikely scenario.

Pinkbirdy
04-29-2016, 12:30 PM
I don't think birds should be solely a kids pet ,but more a whole families responsibility.To hard on a bird that's bonded to a person that's life is most likely going to change.My big pet peeves are people that get birds that cannot do it anymore .Due to college ,work,birth of a child.I think it's not like they don't know how hard it is on the Bird.You're told till your blue in the face how birds are.

Mare
04-29-2016, 09:41 PM
Yeah..or not, Terri. Amigo was a bomb that dropped on us,,my fault, I'm not making excuses but I knew nothing of birds and learned later. I totally agree, the whole family needs to be responsible if a child wants a pet.

Lady
04-30-2016, 03:21 AM
Maybe you could leave a link about what can happen when a bird is clipped wrong? Show her what can happen and maybe she will think it's gross and not want to tempt it, let alone what the bird would have to deal with if not done improperly??