I don’t know what’s worse, having other people underestimate you or underestimating yourself. Both kind of blow. Sometimes you underestimate yourself, yet you find that you could indeed do whatever it was that you didn’t think you could do. That’s very uplifting and a hell of a confidence builder.
Having had other people underestimate your abilities or reach just tends to make me mad. And bitchy. Well, at least that’s how it affects me. I get kind of upset.
And then there are the things I wouldn’t dream of attempting.
One thing that always stunned me were my classmates from high school who simply picked up, got married and began having children when they were 19 or 20. How did they do that? The entire concept terrified me. Kids? A husband? At that age? I was mystified, not because the entire idea made me want to whack myself over the head with a cast iron skillet, but because it just seemed so hard. I mean, Good God, there are easier paths in life to choose than that.
I asked a classmate friend of mine who ended up with three kids, probably before she was 25 and her answer, although probably entirely truthful, stunned me. She said, “When you’re that age, you don’t know you can’t, and so you just end up just doing what you need to do.”
“So, you chose to do it?”
“Not really; it just seemed like, well, that was just what you did.”
Oh.
Then of course came the, “If I had it to do over again…blah,blah,blah…but I would never have skipped the kids! I adore my children!”
Well, of course she does.
Naturally, I thought the woman had lost her mind starting around the time she underestimated herself and decided that getting married and having kids was her only option.
I guess you’re all wondering where the “Parrot Aspect” fits into this. Well, it does and it doesn’t. Life with parrots is a part of our life. And as I’ve always maintained, if it takes up a fair chunk of your life, then you might be doing it right.
That said, I’m all for cutting down the workload and creating more spare time so you can actually have a life. Because parrots should be a part of your life. They should enhance the quality your life and make it better. More fun.
The easier and more efficient something is, the more likely you are going to enjoy it. If you have happy, healthy, well trained parrots, then you’re going to like your life a hell of a lot more than if you didn’t. It might take some work and effort to get there, but once you do, you and your family and your birds will be happier.
It’s up to us to work out how to make that happen. And if you say you can’t, then well, I think you’re underestimating yourself.
I’m always open to new ideas about how to make life with parrots, easier, more efficient, happier, cleaner and more sane. If you have any brilliant, innovative ways of doing things, send them here! We could always use some new techniques, new methods, or a cool way to save time.
Patricia Sund
Parrot Nation 
February 3, 2012 at 10:53 am
I had a great plan shortly after I got my CAG, Scout: she was 7 weeks old, needed constant attention and feeding/care, and my husband and I already had a GCC (Dizzy), plus several finches. Someone asked me if I wanted kids, and I did a gut check and said, “No, I’m good.” Fast forward to 2 years later: we now have 5 parrots and 14 finches AND are expecting our first child in August (oops). Whenever it gets too overwhelming to think about the responsibilities, I just remind myself: people have been keeping both birds AND kids for as long as people have been keeping birds. It’s not a new concept.
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February 3, 2012 at 11:17 am
“No, I’m good.” Now that was funny! And Jeni? I think you’ll do just fine!
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February 3, 2012 at 1:01 pm
I am not a pet owner. I once was…but now I raise parrots. One thing I have observed about being a pet owner and about other pet owners is that they are NOT organized. Being organized about the food preparation, the food delivery, the cage cleaning and the interaction times makes a HUGE difference in your time to enjoy your bird.
I remember a woman who called me for advice. She was crying. She said she had TWO parrots and that it was taking her THREE hours to prepare their food and she had a job and a husband. Well, she was adding all sorts of 1/4 teaspoon of this and 1 tablespoon of that to the soft foods, and cutting and chopping for minutes on end…all because she was trying to do EVERYTHING she had ever read about how to feed a parrot. Needless to say, she was going overboard and it was becoming a terrific time management problem.
So, I went over how to prepare a healthy diet in short time and then have the extra time to enjoy the birds. I spend about two to two and a half hours in the morning in food preparation and delivery…but I have a lot of eclectus parrots, not two parrots! IMO you can provide a great diet for two parrots in 15 minutes, as well as clean the cage bottom and provide fresh water along with the food dish. BUT that does require organization and planning ahead.
If a person has more than one parrot, it helps to have ALL the cages identical if the parrots are the same general size…then your work with the cages is routine and you can spend the minutes serving the food by also observing the birds and their condition, attitude, and health.
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February 3, 2012 at 4:06 pm
Well the mess is the fun part! The birds love making it. We have fun watching them enjoy themselves while they make the mess. Then we spend the rest of our time cleaning up afterwards. It is a labor of love. I wish I could give back to my birds what they give to me. I try 🙂 I do not expect anyone to understand the dynamics involved with my caring for birds. On the same note, I do not understand anyone who does not get it.
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February 4, 2012 at 7:29 pm
I do have a time saving tip when it comes to providing foraging opportunities. I make up a bag of veggie sticks wrapped in coin wrappers and store them in the refrigerator. That way if I have a full day planned, I can just pull them out in the morning and put them in toy bowls in the cages and they have healthy snacks and a foraging foot toy.
If I know I’m leaving the house in the morning to be gone all day, I will make food skewers up the night before using SS Skewers filled with vegetables and fruits. In between the food items I string shreddables like vine balls, paper towel rolls, wood pieces, etc. You can purchase a small dormitory refrigerator to store the skewers in. You could even make two days worth of foraging skewers and store them in the fridge to be handy to put in the cage before you dash off to work.
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February 4, 2012 at 8:01 pm
Sounds like the “snack version” of Chop! It’s all preloaded and ready to rock in the fridge. Great idea! It’s a foraging opportunity in the fridge.
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February 5, 2012 at 8:22 pm
I recently was back in my hometown & ran into a high school classmate who I didn’t recognize but she recognized me. How I’ll never understand as I went waaay out of my way in hs to be non-descripe. Anyways, she knew me. Turns out she married (& later divorced) her high school “sweetheart” & had 4 kids with him before age 27. Then later married another classmate from another class year & had 2 more kids with him plus his 3 kids.
SOoooo, she asked how many kids I had & I said none.
Audible gasp.
From her.
At me.
Cracked me up.
She looked despondent & said “ohhh no, hon, I don’t mean to be rude, but why??. She had that “look”. The look like I would tell her something horrible like I had ovarian cancer or lost a child at birth. But nah, nothing of the sort. I just never wanted kids.
But….
but…
“Didn’t you come from a big family”? she said.
Yes I did.
But what’s that got do to with anything.
Her logic was:
a+b=c?
Grew up in a big family (a)+you must then be seriously maternal (b) = you’ll have lots n lots of kids (c).
My logic was:
a+b never has to equal c
Then the convo turned all awkward & even more trying.
I told her I had 2 parrots a dog & a husband. So really, I kinda do have a few kids, right?
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February 5, 2012 at 8:38 pm
As far as I’m concerned, as long as they are your responsibility and you look at them as your family, then yes, you can call them your “Kids,” your “flock,” your “crew,” or anything you want. But I always give them the respect they deserve by respecting them as a member of their species. I think people do a disservice to their animals by treating them as human children-they deserve more.
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