Does your child constantly bug you for a pet? Are you agreeable to have a pet at home? Most of us mummies have so much on our hands, and somewhat space constrained at home too. Having a pet seems like it’s only going to add on more work and responsibilities for us.
But every now and then we may be faced with our child constantly popping the question of a pet despite our constant variable answers of, “Let me think about it” or simply “No!” I’m sure we have very good reasons to hesitate or even turn down our child’s request.
Yet, I can’t deny the benefits of having pets for the children. I grew up having pets every now and then in my life as a child. It was such joy. I’m denying my child the same joy simply because they present more hassle to my life, one way or another.
Here I am now, grandly caved in. But I have no regrets as there are more good reasons than bad about having pets around the home for my children.
So if you are asking your children to give you reasons to justify why they should be given a pet, I’m here to help them give you a dozen reasons why pets are good for children! 🙂
A Dozen Advantages of Having a Pet For Children
- Encourages connection and engagement with another being
It’s a good way for children to learn to connect with nature. Other than developing their social skills, I think being close to nature in the form of having an animal in their life, is good for children.
We may not always have much of nature around us, but having a pet at home is in a small way, having a part of nature in the house. - Spending more time offline, and less time on-screen with technology
These days most children are dependent on screens to keep them occupied. When they have a pet that they love, there’s something more fulfilling than technology to give them something to do and fill their time.
For parents who are trying to pry their children off their screens, having a pet to spend time with is an excellent way to do so. - Develop care and compassion
When they interact with their pet and treat it as part of the family, they learn to care for it and develop their sense of compassion for other animals as well.
We want our children to be humane and show kindness. Start them off with a pet they love and you’ll see this trait come naturally to them. - Develop sense of inquisitiveness
They will naturally have lots of questions about the pet they love; from what to feed it and why it behaves in certain ways, etc.
Children are naturally inquisitive, some more than others. But having a pet tends to increase their inquisitiveness with regards to their newfound love, so you’ll see them oozing with energy to question just about anything about their pet.
- Develop sense of responsibility as a caretaker
Whilst we parents are likely to be the main caretaker of the pet, do give a role to the child to take care of the pet as well.
Give them a large enough responsibility so that they learn how to be a good caretaker in the course of showing love and nurturing their pet.
Who knows, having developed this trait, they may become very helpful as a sibling caretaker too! - Have an intimate companion
Some children tend to keep some things to themselves. Some things which they find difficult to talk about with anyone, including parents.
Having a pet, they may find solace in being able to talk to it. Having an avenue to express what is difficult is a good outlet for the child.
For children who find it hard to make friends, having a pet as a companion will also help to fill the void of a friend. - Develop spontaneity and taking initiative
When our child spends time with the pet, it is up to the child to think of how to play with it and he or she will always have to take the lead and initiative to guide the pet to play.
This helps them in life especially if the child is the sort who usually takes a back seat and doesn’t take initiative amongst peers. - Encourage self learning
This is also a good platform for parents to encourage the child to learn the various aspects of the pet’s life, needs, behaviour, etc.
This is the time when they are absolutely willing to learn about anything regarding their pet. They may read, do research online, ask friends and family questions as a way to learn as much as they can to understand their pet.
- Promotes family bonding
We parents should also show a good example by showing interest and care about our child’s pet. Take the opportunity to spend time together and bond as a family, along with the pet.
We usually sit down and play with our little dog and have a really good time laughing at her antics and the feeling of laughing heartily together is simply wonderful.
Other times when our dog is tired and just wants to lie around, we would just sit, gathering around her to give her a belly rub.
Whilst we do that, we would talk about anything that comes to mind. Having the dog has brought us more reasons to sit together and simply be with each other. - Creative imagination
You’ll see your child sparked with creative imagination when they are in play with the pet.
They too want to play something new with the pet every now and then, so they’ll have to come up with creative plays and try to find ways to involve and teach the pet how to play. - Promotes patience
Taking care of a pet is no small feat. It takes a lot of love and patience to teach or train the pet in doing something.
For an impatient child, this is a great training ground for them to learn patience. I find that my boys display more patience with our dog than they do with each other, simply because communication is harder with the dog, and they understand that.
Over time, this patience becomes a part of their character as a whole. - Exposed to circle of life
Once we home a pet, we have to be prepared for the circle of life and death to play out. Our children will learn that too.
If there’s an opportunity and you allow it to happen, the pet may breed and our child will get to experience how nature brings about new life.
Inevitably, death will also be a part of the life of the pet and whilst it’s a very painful experience, it is also part of the lesson to emotionally cope with great loss.
Some Word of Caution About Getting Pets
Never treat them as play things. Once you adopt a pet and bring it home, it is part of the family. Our home will be the pet’s forever home. Not a pet that we will discard once the family finds difficulty or lose interest in having the pet. A pet doesn’t have a choice as to who adopts it, and it usually is just happy that someone picks them. And they very easily love their new family unconditionally. It’s simply cruel to take them when we want them and leave them when we have had enough of fun. It doesn’t work that way. So make sure our children understand this, too.
Also, do check out the legal considerations in having pets before adopting one. Another important consideration is to check your children for pet allergies. My younger boy is allergic to pet dander and that’s why we held out for so long to not have any pets at home. But if we had done our research, we would have found that some pets are hypoallergenic, which means he won’t suffer from any allergy from them. So do enough homework on what kind of pet is best for your home.
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