anyone here has young kids and parrots? can you please share your experiences with me? i need to know what?

Question

kind of parrot you have and how they relate to your children. the parrots im most interested in knowing about are conures, macaws amazons and greys. my kids range from ages 3 to 9. any advice/info will be greatly appreciated.

i have two lovebirds, and they are sweethearts- and my baby girl will be 3 march 20, my son 5 july 10 and my oldest girl 9 july 2.

Answer 1

I have had a cockatoo, African Greys and Eclectuses. My son who is now 5 years old is hyperactive so believe me when I say he can rattle avian nerves quite a bit.

They have never bitten him (although I must say the cockatoo has tried a few times). My Eclectus however has been extremely patient with him. Emmett (the Eclectus) comes up to my son to play with his colourful toy cars even though my son can get over-excited and shout loudly at times.

It really depends on the character of the bird you have at hand. Some birds are just not good with kids, others are feathered teddy-bears. Do your research and take your time in choosing your bird. It'll be a costly investment and something you should be prepared to do for the rest of the bird's (extremely long) natural lifespan.

You must however understand that a big parrot can break fingers without even trying. This may not happen to you or your children but it can and has happened to other people. So monitor all interaction with your children very closely until they are old enough to understand and interpret the bird's body language to know when to back off..

Answer 2

Very difficult question to answer. I have had two experiences with parrots (1 grey, and my amazon), the grey lived with my youngest sister, and her 4 girls, and loved them dearly!!! They were slightly older 6-10 year range, but Sterling loved them dearly!!! They were taught early, how to handle and respect him, and he became just another member of the family-we have no real idea of his age, but do know he was imported years ago, and not hand raised. He would follow them everywhere in the house, eat at the table with them, climb in their beds with them, and anxiously wait every day for them to get home from school!!! But that was Sterling---my hand-raised Amazon(by me), also dearly loves children!! When well-socialized, afamily parrot, not only knows the sex of people, but also the difference between children and adults. This I firmly believe is not only instinct, but acquired from watching our inter-action with the young of our own species. Parrots do the same as humans, in that they nurture, love and teach their young. When a part of our lives, they feel and can express all of the emotions of a human, such as joy, anger jealousy, likes and dislikes. The bond that forms between our feathered friends and us is FORMED and FUELED by TRUST, the same factor that bonds humans amongst themselves----your family can have a life-time relationship with most any parrot as long as the kids respect and love the parrot, and taught how to handle him. It would be easier to start with a young one monitor the younger kids, until you are sure they wont tease, or handle the parrot roughly, and you will be amazed at how loving and human-like the parrot will become. Most all the parrots I know are just another member of the family!!! Birdman

Answer 3

No, no, no, no no.

You cannot safely bring any of those birds into your home. I have been around birds all my life, and for that age range, you're looking at lost fingers. Seriously. I'm not saying they're viscious, but you cannot teach a child that young to properly interact with a bird, and those beaks are more than strong enough to take off an entire finger.

If you want to bring a bird into a home with small children, your best options are lovebirds or cockatiels. The larger birds are not good matches for small children, and even conures tend to nip hard. Conures are also absurdly noisy. Do some research on lovebirds and cockatiels and consider getting one of those birds instead. PLEASE do not get any of the birds you mentioned! It is such a dangerous situation for bird and child alike.

Answer 4

Well, if the parrot is screaming on the sight of you, I'd think that he is both comfortable to look you or that he is now not comfortable to look you. Now, if it is simply within the morning or at night time time, then it is average. My fowl screams plenty, however it is frequently most effective while both there may be some thing particularly loud occurring (song, plenty ogf youngsters, and so forth.) or if it is within the morning. Usually we simply forget about him, but when it will get to be too loud, we're going to duvet his cage for a little bit. This makes him loosen up, and frequently he may not preserve screaming when we do away with the duvet.

Answer 5

I have two macaws...and I don't agree with the post above me, even though it was obviously written with great thought and compassion for all involved. So, before I launch into my answer, I just want to say that there's no disrespect involved, I just disagree.

I have Logan who is almost two (March he'll be 2), Sam who is 4 and Alex who is 7. All boys. My macaws are every bit as much a part of the family as those boys, and they are treated as such.

If you're one of those parents that believe that you must install all sorts of new gadgets to protect your children, that every electrical outlet must be covered and have baby gates everywhere...parrot ownership while you have young kids in the house probably isn't for you.

But...if you're the parent that teaches your child the meaning of the word NO, follow through consistently with what you have taught them and expect that there will be mis-steps, mistakes and complete catastrophes no matter how hard you work to teach them, you're on the right track to being able to do both.

I obviously don't allow Logan to handle the birds. He's 2 for crying out loud. But, under watchful supervision (as in if they are in the same room, together, without touching) they definitely interact. As a matter of fact, one of my Military Macaws "all the time" phrases involves him saying the word Ow! over and over and over until he screams like he's dying. Logan's first word wasn't mommy or daddy...it was OW, followed by a shriek. LOL

As far as the other two boys go, the do interact with the birds. With Rio, before we brought him home, we took the kids three times a week for almost six months to go visit with him. There, they learned how to interact with a macaw, how to play, how to feed... and basically got to know him.

With Katie, our Greenwing Macaw, she's just a baby. Which is awesome because even though she's not living with us yet (she's not weaned yet), we DO take Logan, the baby up to see her a few times a week. And we have allowed a closer interaction with her with him because she IS a baby, and we've been able to form her behavior from the get go.

Macaws (or any larger parrot) with kids can be achieved, but it's just like everything else. You can't protect your kids all of the time. All you can do is arm them with the right information and expect them to do the right thing. When they don't, then they deal with the consequences. In the case of having large birds, the consequences can range from a minor pinch to a severe laceration to the death of your beloved bird.

Here's a quick story for you, not related to birds in particular, but I definitely think it applies: My grandma was over at my house. Alex and Sam were screwing around, play-fighting on the stairs. Grandma was getting ALL worked up over it. She said "How come you don't have baby gates put up?! Look at all these breakables all over your house where they can reach them! What on earth are you thinking?!"

I said "Well...the breakable knick-knacks are there because I put them there. Well before these children were born. They're still there because I've taught my children not to touch them. As far as the baby gates, I figure they'll only fall down those stairs after acting like little jackasses once. After that, they'll have learned that playfighting on stairs hurts."

Gram hugged me and said "That might be the smartest bit of parenting I've ever heard."

It's true...you can't protect them their whole lives. You have to teach them, then trust them.