Having Pets Benefits our Kids

Families with pets, guess what? By just having a pet in your home, you are providing countless benefits for you and your children.

I have had pets longer than I’ve had children. My first two puppies were my first babies, and every dog since has filled a giant place in my heart. My dogs make me calmer, our home cozier, and our hearts happier. Our pets of choice are dogs, but I know many friends who co-habitate with lizards, snakes, fish, turtles, cats, and crabs. And while they are great for adults, pets are also excellent for kids. 

Responsibility

Although my children act like doing the dishes, bringing up the laundry, and taking the trash out is as painful as an appendectomy, if they have to let our Australian shepherd or German short-hair outside, feed them, play with them, or water them, they jump at the chance to do it. My dogs have so expertly tricked my children into being responsible pet owners. I’m amazed each time my kids do something to care for our four legged friends. This type of responsibility is the most important in my book. If our pets miss a feeding, need water, or aren’t being played with, there are major repercussions. I enjoy that my children’s responsibility over our pets is driven by unconditional love for them. There’s definitely something in those puppy dog eyes that mesmerize my littles into helping, and it’s also great practice for my sons and my daughter to be future caregivers.

Seeing Beyond Themselves

I think one way to get humans to cheer up is to have them care for someone or something. Focusing on the needs of another living thing allows us to feel better about our own lives. Depression and anxiety can plague many kids, but having a pet around can ease the symptoms that accompany both. I wrote an article discussing how pets can make life that much brighter for kids who suffer with anxiety. Oprah.com mentions that having a pet lowers blood pressure, helps with socialization, and builds self-esteem. I see all of these benefits, and just like volunteering time to other humans helps us in so many ways, so too does caring for a pet. By placing focus on the needs of another living thing, kids (and adults) are less likely to focus on what is going wrong in their own lives. And these living things provide the cutest faces of thankfulness.

Life-Cycle

If you ask me, our pets should live forever. The pain of losing a pet is nothing short of catastrophic for any human, and our children are no different. However, the life cycle of a living thing is a great concept to learn early. If kids can get a clear understanding of life and death at an early age, it allows us as parents to answer questions that arise and discuss this heavy topic. Parents and children can work through the grief process together to try to make sense of death that is a part of our lives. 

Laughter and Love

The main reason our fun reptilians, our furry felines, and our cute K9s are good for our kids is because of the laughter and unconditional love they provide. An article in Parenting Magazine discusses the benefits of therapy animals working with struggling readers. They completed a study with kids who labored over texts. “Researchers monitored their stress levels, and found that kids were most relaxed around the animal, not the humans.” These children enjoyed having a non-judgmental ear while practicing reading.

My kids’ memories will be littered with the special moments they’ve made with our dogs and the pets of our neighbors. My children get the joy of watching our dogs grow and perform the tricks they’ve taught them. Most importantly, when my kids need a sympathetic ear, they can just curl up with our Daisy or Sky any time they’d like.

We love our pets like they are family members. What about you? What benefits do you notice from involving your kids in the pet raising process?