From the mailbag:
"Dear Mama Bear,
My adorable 7 year old wants a pet bird. I was looking around and it seems like a parakeet would be a great starter bird, what do you think?
Janice D"
Dear JD,
Alas, pardon me, for you have inadvertently awakened the fiery beast known as MamaBear. Permit me to roar in extreme unhappiness:
There is *no such thing!* as a "starter" bird!
My gosh! Parakeets, although small, are tremendously lively and wonderful birdies; they're not a throwaway species (heck, *nothing* is a throwaway pet!!)
And 7 years old is 'way too young (for the most part) for children to really take care of a pet unless Mom or Dad truly pitch in.
Please don't tell me you were thinking about buying a birdie dungeon (ie, your typical parakeet sized cage) and jailing that poor birdie for the rest of its life!!
My clan currently has 8 parakeets and because we don't believe in caging our animals, they live in a tree branch that was placed on top of their 3 foot tall cage. They also love trying to eat HS1 and HS2's homework if they leave it out, but hey.
They're supposed to be neat about that anyways. 🙂
To learn more about parakeets, check out the free resource
and then to see how really cool budgies can be, dive into the mysteries of
And yes, that does feature Mama Bear's flock. 🙂
So….
Wait until your child is mature and responsible enough for a pet…and never ever ever get one to consider it a 'starter' birdie. That's just plain cruel.
Thus speaks…Mama Bear
