Animal Internet

Yes, I admit it, I don’t want my kid growing up to be a sissy.  I’m not one of those overprotective parrots, afraid to let his kid leave the nest and spread his wings.  You know the kind, always hovering around to make sure the little ones don’t get their talon stuck in the cage door or forget to sharpen their beaks. For the love of Pete, leave him alone, he’s practically six-months-old!

Now, maybe I got a different way of looking at things because I didn’t grow up in a fancy cage.  started out a young cock in the wild, flying free with parrots of all colors and sizes. You’re talking to a guy whose best friend was an African Gray. Man, we tore it up! Never been a better wingman when you’re out there preening for the chicks. Where we live now, my kid barely sees any Africans at all! For crying out loud, my wife makes me fly down to the bottom of the cage and turn the newspaper over if there’s even an ad for a bra on the page.  Keep in mind this was the same nutty mom who was still regurgitating her son’s food weeks after he fledged.  You ask me, it was a freakshow.

I may come off as Attila the Hun here, but is there really any better way to teach your kid not to fly into a window than letting him do it? Slam into that clear, flat pane of pain just once at full flap, and trust me, if he doesn’t die from a massive head wound, you can bet he’s gonna make sure he never does it again.  That’s what these parents don’t understand - you’re not tough on them now, someone else will be. We need to go back to our old hook bill roots or before you know it, we’ll have reared a whole generation of wusses who are scared to death of every new perch, sill, and cuttlebone.  mean, c’mon, what are we, Cockatoos or Parrots?