My Cinderella

[Selestine]

I had my child-slave cleaning the floor around the bird cages today and her little animal companions decided to keep her company

 

[Kiwibird]

Lol. That was totally me when I was a kid. Scrubbing parrot mess off the floors, walls ext.. with the 3 amigos who made it cheerfully screeching in my ear I still am always crawling around on the floor, scrubbing parrot mess and I'm 25 now:52: It never ends.......

Glad to see a mom who is teaching their child responsibility though. Your daughter may not like it too much, but I bet she will appreciate her little birdie so much more when she's helping in it's care!

 

[Selestine]

She's the one who got us started with parrots -- wrote her dad an essay as to why she needed one, what awesome pets they make, all about conure care, etc. So we made it pretty clear from the beginning that she would be busting her butt taking care of him. She had an empty cage in her room for a month before we started looking for birds and had to change the paper, wash the food/water bowls, etc every day. A year later and she is still at it.

Haha, then I got hooked and needed my own! Hence my ekkie <3<3<3

I take care of all the food, but she does all the cleaning. Son is responsible for all dog food and water, and he scoops poop once a week.

They are nine and eleven years old -- definitely old enough to work! They don't mind doing it, either. They really love being allowed to have pets.

 

[SpotsandSally]

Wow that's wonderful! Such an awesome young gal.

 

[Pinkbirdy]

What a cute picture !!! I love them watching her .

 

[Ollie13]

Hehe whenever I'm on my hands and knees wiping around my Ollie's cage he loves just watching me like this also he gets down on the floor near me and wants to be right in my face sometimes it's soo cute

 

[drlisaort]

Great lessons on responsibility with pets that you are giving your children...

 

[Allee]

Thank you for sharing your photo and story. What a great way for kids to learn responsibility.

 

[Birdman666]

Hehe whenever I'm on my hands and knees wiping around my Ollie's cage he loves just watching me like this also he gets down on the floor near me and wants to be right in my face sometimes it's soo cute

I HAVE TO LOCK MINE UP, OR THEY'D ALL BE RUNNING AROUND ON THE FLOOR, TRYING TO CLIMB ON MY LAP...

DOES NO ONE AROUND HERE USE THE "FOOT SCRUBBING" METHOD? Am I the only one with a back problem? I can't get down on my hands and knees like that anymore...

 

[Birdman666]

I take care of all the food, but she does all the cleaning. Son is responsible for all dog food and water, and he scoops poop once a week.

They are nine and eleven years old -- definitely old enough to work! They don't mind doing it, either. They really love being allowed to have pets.

MY 17 year old basically tells me: "THEY'RE YOUR BIRDS!"

And, well, they are... so I generally do most of the care and cleaning. Every once in awhile she helps, but they are my birds... (She helped more when some of them were her birds.)

 

[Selestine]

DOES NO ONE AROUND HERE USE THE "FOOT SCRUBBING" METHOD? Am I the only one with a back problem? I can't get down on my hands and knees like that anymore...

Hah, no! That is what the kids are for. I'm probably just lucky because mine aren't actual teenagers yet, so they don't think they can tell me no yet

But honestly, I'm not anticipating problems. It was a caveat of getting the birds, so she sticks to her responsibilities (and I just keep telling her that when she grows up and has kids of her own, she'll have her own slaves). I imagine after they move out I'll become well acquainted with the foot scrubbing method, though!

 

[Birdman666]

Mine doesn't outright tell me no. She just pats me on my little head... and doesn't do what she is supposed to, and acts like either she forgot, or tries the "gaslight" number. DAD, YOU DID NOT TELL ME THAT! Ummm... yes I did!

Honestly, if she put even HALF the effort into trying to AVOID doing what she was told, and just did it...

OUTSIDE of me, she's great. At school, at work, no one has to tell her, she's always looking to do more... (Who are you, and what did you do with my REAL daughter?! STEPFORD CHILD!) but if it's me?! That's like surrendering her independence or something!

It's a recent development. She's almost 18. Ready to cut the cord, and be an adult... or so she thinks. Until she actually does move out, and has to pay rent, take the bus to work, etc.

So, it's a stage... and it's liable to come. Just like parrots, you can train them out of it... it just takes a little patience and work.

Found my new method of discipline the other night: She called me to come pick her up from work. She was exhausted... "Did you clean the kitchen like I asked?!" Ummm... no! "Well, if you don't do what you're supposed to do, maybe I won't do what I am supposed to do. Walking is good exercise!"


Sorry it's come to this, but Dad's had enough. You're old enough to help a little more than you do...

Cool dad can sometimes be EVIL dad. Like my birds don't like Mr. Towel, you won't like EVIL dad!

Attitude adjustments are occasionally necessary, and part of parenting.