The Best Pet Bird for Your Kids

So you think it's time for your child to get his first pet, and you've decided on a pet bird. Great idea, birds are one of the best pets for your kids to start out with, but you have to make sure you know your facts before jumping into it.

The thought of having a giant talking parrot my seem like a good idea, but remember, this is your child's pet, not yours, and a giant talking bird half the size of your kid isn't always the bet pet bird for your kids, even if he does love Sesame Streets Big Bird. With a little thought, a bird can easily become the perfect pet to start your child off with, and teach him valuable lessons in life as well.

Because this is a pet for children, and it's the first pet they will have, the best pet bird for your kids is very basic and very popular, the Canary. The Canary is a small yellow-green bird with a hint of brown. It can be very vibrant in color and thus bring a lot of attention from your child. It is also small, meaning the amount of work YOU will have to do is going to be scaled down compared to owning a giant talking Parrot.

The canary feeds off of basic bird food, seeds and the likes, but can also be rewarded with bits of berry or even small insects as a treat. This makes it easy and diverse as to what to feed it, as other animals tend to have a much broader diet that must be maintained. This will make teaching your child how to take care of his pet much easier.

Another reason the best pet bird for your kids is a Canary, is due to the lifespan. A well taken care of Canary can easily live for 15 years, which will allow your child to learn to take care of his pet, enjoy a long lasting friendship with his pet, and eventually (though sad to say) learn about coping with the loss of a loved one at an appropriate age. One vital mistake parents make when buying pets for their young children is doing so without learning of the life expectancy, thus unknowingly causing highly unneeded stress for their children a couple years down the line. This can actually affect a child's ability to raise pets in the future, and in some cases may even cause emotional relationship issues down the line as well.

Finally, the absolute tops reason the Canary is the best pet bird for your kids is for the simple fact that they don't need a TON of attention. Lets face it, children forget. Though you can remind them to take care of the litter box or walk there dog once in a while, more often then not they will manage to completely forget there pet for days on end. This is okay with a pet canary. As long as the water and food is kept stocked (which is normally once every 2-4 weeks) and the newspaper in the cage has been changed out decently, the only "real" attention he needs can be done by simply bringing him indoors, opening his cage and allowing him to fly around the house for a few hours every couple of days (Just make sure the windows and doors are closed!!!) This brings enjoyment to everyone in the house, the children love watching him fly around, and he can bring tons of entertainment to you as well.

The Canary is the best pet bird for kids simply because it can provide years of companionship to both your children and yourself, with a relatively easy upkeep from both of you. It's a great step to teaching them how to raise other pets, and can easily get along with most other pets you may bring in down the road (Cats of course needs some extra training to get along with them, but can easily be taught not to bother your pet bird.)