If you’ve spent any time in the toddler or preschool trenches, you know Mo Willems. His Elephant & Piggie series is the gold standard for early readers. In There Is a Bird on Your Head!, Gerald the elephant discovers that a bird has landed on his head. Then two birds. Then they build a nest. Then they have babies.

Gerald is miserable. He’s uncomfortable. He’s overwhelmed. But he doesn't know how to make it stop until Piggie gives him the simplest, most profound advice: "Why do you not ask them to go somewhere else?"

You might think, "It’s just a book about a bird, why are we talking about digital wellness?"

Because the "bird on the head" is the universal symbol for unwanted interaction.

In 2026, your kid’s "head" is eventually going to be their digital profile, their Messenger Kids inbox, or their Minecraft world. If a child doesn't understand that they have the agency to say "I don't like this, please leave" in the physical world, they will be completely defenseless when a random kid in a game starts following them around or a group chat becomes "brain rot" central.

Teaching boundaries is a long game. It starts with Gerald and the birds and ends with your teenager knowing how to block a creep on Discord.

Ask our chatbot for more books about setting healthy boundaries

If your kid is obsessed with Gerald and Piggie, use that momentum. Here are our top picks for media that reinforces the "Bird on Your Head" lesson without being preachy or boring.

Ages 2-7 Specifically, watch the episode "Yoga Ball." Bingo feels like Bandit (Dad) is being too rough during a game. It’s a perfect parallel to Gerald. Bingo has to find her "big girl bark" to tell her dad she’s not having fun anymore. It teaches kids that even people they love (like Piggie or Dad) can accidentally cross boundaries.

Ages 3-6 Another Mo Willems classic. This flips the script. Instead of the child learning to set a boundary, they are the ones being asked to enforce one. The Pigeon is basically a personification of every "just one more minute" YouTube autoplay or "buy this skin" pop-up in Fortnite. It’s a great way to practice saying "No" to a persistent, slightly annoying force.

Ages 2-5 Daniel Tiger is the king of the "social-emotional jingle." There’s a whole song about "Asking first before you take something." This is the precursor to digital consent—like asking before taking a photo of a friend or recording a TikTok dance with them.

Ages 4-9 This is a "digital dollhouse" app. It’s great because there are no set rules and no multiplayer (unless they are sitting next to a friend). It’s a safe space to practice "Who is allowed in this house?" and "What happens if this character doesn't want to play?" It’s a low-stakes way to explore social dynamics.

At this age, it’s all about the "bubble." Use There Is a Bird on Your Head! to talk about how Gerald’s body felt when the birds were there. Was he happy? No. Was he allowed to ask them to leave? Yes.

This is when kids start playing games like Roblox or Pokémon UNITE.

Let’s be real: setting boundaries is hard for adults, too. We often tell our kids to "be nice" or "give Grandma a hug," which can inadvertently teach them that other people’s comfort is more important than their own boundaries.

There Is a Bird on Your Head! isn't just for the kids. It’s a reminder for us that "being nice" doesn't mean "being a doormat." Gerald was "nice" to the birds, and he ended up with a literal family of feathered squatters on his skull.

When your kid starts saying "Ohio" because they saw it on a YouTube short and they don't even know it means "weird," or when they are obsessed with Skibidi Toilet, they are navigating a world where boundaries are constantly being pushed. They need to know that they own their digital space just as much as their physical space.

Learn more about the 'Skibidi Toilet' craze and why your kid is obsessed

Next time you read the book, try asking these questions:

There Is a Bird on Your Head! is a 5-star book because it respects a child’s right to say "No." In a world where tech companies are constantly trying to land "birds" on our heads (in the form of notifications, ads, and engagement loops), teaching our kids to ask them to "go somewhere else" is the most important digital wellness skill we can give them.

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