Redditor Yells At Dad After He Taught Her Pet Bird To Say Curse Words, Asks Internet If She Was An A-Hole For Doing So

"AITA for yelling at my dad after he taught my bird curse words?"

Sophia

• Published in Interesting
• December 9, 2022

Animals are wonderful creatures. It is just sad that many of them, specifically the domesticated ones, need new homes to take them in.

They are usually sent to a shelter and get cared for to prepare them for adoption. When it comes to the typical overflowing pet population, the shelters find or assign a pet to a foster parent or family, to support the animals, as well as the shelters, allowing for more room for animals who need help.

As a foster parent, you have the responsibility to care for the animal until they get adopted. This means that they do everything in their power to make the animals look as presentable and irresistible, and also keep them as healthy as possible.

In this specific Reddit thread, the couple (OP and her husband) try to do just that. However, they face a situation that could’ve been avoided, if not for the person they entrusted the parrot to for a short amount of time, specifically a week.

One of the persons to whom they entrusted the pet to has taught a trick that is not good for the animal–it makes them less likely to be adopted, you see (although many would disagree). OP confronts them after finding out–by the way, that person is her dad.

Here's the sitch:

OP and her husband are foster parents to an older parrot named Cosmo–he loves people and has some health issues, making it hard for him to be placed into a home. In the shelter where he is from, it is a requirement to reveal if a parrot knows curse words (if they do, they are less likely to be adopted), so the couple make sure they don’t curse around Cosmo.

When the couple had to be away for a week, they had OP’s parents to watch over Cosmo–they made sure to note that the bird can easily pick up on things, so they shouldn’t watch anything or curse when he is around. One week later, they come back and find out that Cosmo is cursing the F word.

OP calls her parents–her mom swears she didn’t curse or watch any adult shows when Cosmo was there, but her dad did.

To make matters worse, her dad thought Cosmo saying the F word was funny, so he gave the bird a treat everytime he said it–which is very bad since Cosmo now associates the F word with treats–so OP got so mad that she yelled at him over the phone and hung up.

Here's what people have to say:

If Cosmo really entertains you, Dad, you should just go and keep him. It seems like the possibility of the bird being adopted just went a whole lot lower.

The request was only for a few days. Is that responsibility so hard to uphold?

The fact that birds are hard to adopt out is sad. Dad shouldn’t have done it, though.

You told him what not to do, but he did it anyway. It was intentional.

Funny for the dad, yes, but what he did is going to backfire on Cosmo. Dad is the asshole.

Cosmo can live for up to sixty years? 30 more years of possible homelessness for poor Cosmo.

Irresponsible, childish and stupid. OP’s dad did both the couple and Cosmo dirty.

Many parrots outlive their owners and need a second home later. Teaching them to swear makes them almost impossible to rehome–just hope the dad realizes that he is a total A-hole for doing what he did.

Don’t apologize, OP. Your dad is a jerk.

He went back on his promise and encouraged the bad behavior. Being older and having health issues is hard enough for Cosmo–teaching him to curse just worsens his situation.

A possible bird adoption? This is a chance for Cosmo to have a permanent home.

Why is the mom defending the dad when he really did mean to do what OP said he shouldn’t?

OP explained what would happen, but it had no effect on his actions.

What OP said to her dad was accurate. He just screwed Cosmo’s chances of being rehomed, permanently.

The advance warning should’ve helped. Indeed, parrots are better than humans.

How immature. Why would an old man do something a 12-year-old would do?

OP has to find someone who will care for the bird. That someone should also not mind the cursing that is to come.

Many things are rooted in trust–in this particular case, it is relationships and Cosmo's probability of being adopted out of the animal shelter. Being entrusted with a responsibility, may it be affecting a person or an animal, should be taken seriously and not be exchanged for just small entertainment.

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Sophia