Children and pets: benefits and perils

Having a childhood pet is a wonderful experience for the child. Children learn to take responsibility for another living thing and assistance. Children with pets know that their needs always come first, and sometimes to take care of their pets have precedent over their own need to play or rest. These children tend to be more caring, less selfish and more happy than those who did not grow up with pets. Children with pets also tend to carry more than children without pets, and spend more time outdoors. As a result of improving children's health and reducing childhood obesity. Since childhood obesity is a growing epidemic with serious health consequences, including diabetes and other serious childhood illnesses, having a pet for a child can be a valuable learning experience and an important decision for health.

In addition, children often learn of the death through the process of having a pet. For many children, the loss of a loved family pet is their first experience with death. After burial of pets, the selection of animals grave markers urns, pet memorials and writing, children learn to cope with death and with pet loss. Children begin to understand and solve the constancy of death, saying goodbye to their pets. This rewarding experience is important, and prepares children to large losses as they may arise later in life, such as the death of grandparents. It also helps them learn to better understand and manage the pain and frustration in other areas of their lives.

Despite these advantages are important, there are also risks associated with providing the child a pet. First, some dog breeds may be less tolerant than others, a rough game inquisitive child. Parents who buy the dogs for their children must take into account temperament of the dog and the dog's age. Older dogs may be less equipped to deal with noisy children, while as a very young puppies can not understand that the child is not a toy. Reputable breeder or rescue of animals should be able to help match the appropriate dog home, factoring in age, when children and dogs temperament. If the children are very young, the dog or cat may not be the ideal pet, because even the gentlest pet can not respond properly to a child who does not know how to play gently with the animal. There are PetSafe pet products you can buy though that help train dogs and pets to behave better. If a small child has a pet that a child should be supervised and taught appropriate behavior.

Most importantly, however, the choice of pet for a child will remember that children are not able to take care of the animals themselves. Most children do not have the time, concentration, and level of responsibility required to care for a pet full time. This is especially true for puppies. Getting a puppy or dog for child, and it is expected that the child will be fully responsible for its assistance and training for disaster. Any dog ​​bought to be "family dog" and belong to the family. Parents must be willing to take responsibility, both financial and otherwise, for any pet, which they bring home for the child.