Friday, August 29, 2008
It’s Date Night!
By Melissa L. Kauffman, Editorial Director of BIRD TALK and BirdChannel.com
Share in the adventures of Melissa Kauffman's experiences in bird ownership in Life in the Bird House.
More and more couples that have been together for a significant amount of time are bringing Date Night into their lives. This is one night during the week where they set aside time for the two of them to do something together, to re-connect away from their hectic schedules. Now, if you are like me, you are busy night and day. Trying to get some quality time with your feathered family member(s) just gets tougher and tougher. So I suggest we borrow from the Date Night philosophy and create a time, once a week, where you really do something a little bit different with your pet bird. This will help enrich your relationship and bring back some of that earlier spark to your lives. So borrowing from Date Night suggestions, we can just “re-Tweet” them.
Here are 10 favorites of mine.
Home Cooked Meal: Try out a new recipe for you and your bird. Allow your bird to “help” during the preparation stage (that which doesn’t include the stove or oven). Then set the table and sit down to eat together with no distractions.
Movie night: Time to pop some unbuttered, unsalted popcorn and pick a dynamic movie with lots of funny sounds and action. My cockatiels and Meyer’s parrot love a good movie. Woody, the Meyer’s, especially loves to laugh along with my husband.
Go Dancing: Get some great dance music and a big mirror and get to dancing. Perhaps you and your bird have a favorite song to dance to. Add a few more songs to the dance party track, and make this a weekly workout.
Get in the car: Get your bird in its travel cage and take a ride to somewhere local you haven’t been before. Check out your local park, go to a friend’s house or just relax and take a drive.
Read a magazine: Pick up a magazine and go through it page by page. Read aloud to your bird, show him/her the pictures, let him/her nibble on it a bit. By the time you finish the whole magazine, you’ll both have thoroughly enjoyed it (although the magazine will probably be worse for wear).
Take a walk or ride a bike: Put your bird in its travel cage, stroller or in a travel cage attached to a bike and tour the neighborhood.
Photo shoot: Come up with a list of 10 poses for your bird and put on your own photo shoot. Not only will you have fun and interact with a variety of poses and props but you’ll have some great pictures too.
Go on a walkabout: Put all other pets away and start from one end of the house. Coach your bird into walking all through the house. This will allow him to explore under your guidance.
Toymania: Buy several new toys and put your bird and the toys on a table. Play with each toy one by one. Get your bird to play with each toy. Try interactive toys like basketball or foraging toys.
A-Mazing: Create a maze for your bird to get through and coax him/her through. Let him/her watch you create the maze and then use yummy treats to entice your bird through it.
If you have any Date Night ideas, I would love to hear them. Better yet, I would love to see them, so send photos or a short video!
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It’s Date Night!
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