Parenting A Pet
Zoya Ahmed a teacher, shares the joy of raising a pair of chicks…
Sounds weird, but it is real! People have dogs, cats, and even birds as their pets, but I decided on chicks. I have never had a pet before and I never even thought about having one. However, life is unexpected and when you're young, your mood swings. So did mine and I bought two chicks from a local vendor out of curiosity. One was orange, and the other was yellow.
As I began caring for them, my mum warned me before taking them that I would not be able to take care of them because I was a clumsy girl, which I still am. Well, she was kind of right; I was even scared to touch them, let alone carry them in my hands. As a matter of fact, I never held them in my hands. They were cute and my father taught me how to feed them. It was simple: just give them rice or wheat and they're full.
They both were active and made a lot of noise. On the first day, my only concern was, what if they keep making noise at night too? Well, they didn't! They fell asleep and woke up straight in the morning. Thank goodness! I thought my mum would kick me out of the house with them if they disturbed her at night. But we all were home, safe and sound.
The next morning, I woke up and took a walk with my “lions”- I mean chicks. Although they weren't walking with me, I was following them and stopping them from getting into trouble. You might wonder what kind of trouble; let me tell you, deep water. Deep water? No, I don't live near the sea or anything. Actually, they were so little that a pothole full of water would be like the Indian Ocean for them. Yes, I was their saviour.
As time passed, I had to give them names. There is a whole story behind that as well. Firstly, I was confused about my choices because names like “Aada & Paada” came to my mind. I'm also surprised by these names: so embarrassing! Finally, I decided to call them “Kut-Kut”. They both were “Kut-Kut” for me, as it was hard to distinguish between them because, as they grew, their colour faded away into white feathers.
Meanwhile, their antics became more entertaining. They used to poop a lot. You and I go to the washroom once or twice a day. However, they had no particular bathroom and they would poop wherever they pleased, including on the floor, where I stepped on it many times. Anyway, jokes apart, they loved me a lot and so did I. We woke up together and they started walking behind me and following me wherever I went. They knew when to go to bed and when to have food. As a result, my whole family became their fan. I never thought that something like chicks could be pets and spread love.
Parenting pets like chicks is an experience out of this world. While looking after them, I realized how my parents must have raised me. I found out what struggles they might have gone through while raising me. I am grateful to have such parents as well as my pets. In the end, I would say that when someone owns a pet, they feel different emotions, but all become family and love is reciprocated.
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