London, Europe Brief News – Pets teach children valuable life lessons like responsibility, trust, compassion, respect and patience.
Here are five benefits of bet ownership for the whole family.
Pets Help with Learning
While book groups are the rage among her mother’s friends, Natalie has her own reading tribe: We often find her curled up in her bed or lying in a den of blankets in a quiet nook of the house, reading to one or more of her cats. She pets them as she reads, stops to show them pictures, and ask them questions. She even reassures them during scary parts of the story.
Pets Provide Comfort to Kids
In another study, children were asked what advice they would give less-popular kids for making friends. The top answer didn’t focus on a cool toy or must-have sneakers. It was: Get a pet. Whether a hamster or a horse, Dr. Jalongo says, an animal gives a child something to talk about and a shared interest with other kids.
Pets Encourage Nurturing
Dr. Melson began studying the impact of pets in order to learn how human beings develop the ability to care for others. “Nurturing isn’t a quality that suddenly appears in adulthood when we need it,” she says. “And you don’t learn to nurture because you were nurtured as a child. People need a way to practice being caregivers when they’re young.”
Pets Can Keep Kids Healthy
No expert on earth—not even the perky owner of the Happy Tails Grooming Salon a few blocks from my home—will go along with my theory that there’s a direct link between Natalie’s relatively small number of ear infections (two) and the number of cats in our home (three). So, okay, I’m probably wrong in thinking that felines lower a child’s risk of otitis media. But there is reason to believe that animals can help protect kids from at least some illnesses.
Pets Build Family Bonds
One of the biggest benefits of pets is often unexpected, even for parents who grew up around animals: They can help families grow stronger and closer. “Whenever I ask children and parents if their pets are truly part of the family, most of them seem surprised—and almost offended—at the question,” Dr. Melson says. The most common response: “Of course they are!”
