Are Pets Beneficial To Children? 1/28/2015 January 28th, 2015
My daughter wanted a pet. She got a cat, hamster and dog all within about a two year span. These pets were in addition to the cat we already had. The cats are very self sufficient. She swore she would take care of the hamster and that it would be considered hers. The dog was written into a new house contract. She lets the dog out to relieve himself a few times a week; far from the kind of care she said she’d be responsible for. I do most of the animal care now. It shows her that I support her and kindness to animals no matter what. It shows her what it takes to keep an animal healthy. And when she asks for another animal she knows why she isn’t getting one. All in all I think the pets will prove to be a good experience. Here are some other reasons that I read about.
There are so many reasons why it’s good to raise children around animals. We can start with a better immune system. This article states that’s children raised with dogs in the first year have 31% fewer respiratory tract infections than children without dogs. This isn’t the only article that indicates a better immune system for children with pets.
If the other members of the family show compassion to their pets the children will learn compassion for all God’s creatures. Even that spider smashed with a shoe is not made to suffer. That’s not to say that some of these qualities won’t be inherent by The Rule of Socialized Genetics. The flip side of this is that children can also learn cruelty or express it from some genetic deficiency in there line.
A Personal Testimony
I grew up in a house where the dogs lived in the basement and wallowed in their own feces. In another household my step dad kicked and beat our animals so that’s what I learned to do. At 15 years old, of all dogs to get, I was given a pit-bull. It was a disaster. Fist thrown as hard as I could and bites intense enough to break the skin was an everyday occurrence. It wasn’t that I didn’t love Harley I just didn’t know how to show it. At 19 a girl entered my life that turned my perspective of love up side down. I never hit her. Though I improved with my pets, I was still heavy handed.
When I was 32 I was blessed with our daughter. Pets are a big part of her life because she’s an only child. In addition to the love of that girl, who became my wife. I got an even more grand perspective on love from my daughter. She and I volunteered at the local animal shelter when we were in an apartment that didn’t allow dogs. I didn’t mistreat any of the animals there and my daughter had to acquaint hers self with walking dogs and bagging poop. Now we have a house and a rescued greyhound from Florida. I’ve never spanked Rocket (greyhounds get so freaked out in the face of violence). I am now 46 and grateful for the way things turned out. It could have been so much worse but my girls saved me and now I am able to save Rocket, two cats, and a hamster. I dedicate an hour a day to Rocket and we share a wonderful love. The hamster gets a half hour. The point is to raise your children to appropriate and display a good love, as appose to bad love, right from the beginning. That’s what’s being done with my daughter. I’m glad she never saw the ugly side of me. Not everyone can say the same. I am so grateful. Thank you for letting me share. Here are some other articles on children and pets.
Until next time, keep your homes well.
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Everything you’ve stated is so true. I witnessed the same treatment towards the pets we’ve had growing up. Many of them weren’t so lucky and were killed or abused very badly. I remember growing up in a household where treating animals badly was the norm. I knew that I loved a dog that I may have had, cat or kitten , I was not very good to them either. All the pets of the household had fleas, poor nutrition, lack of exercise, and were locked in the hot shed all day while standing in their own feces. I knew this was no way to treat animals yet, I did not know any other way. I needed to control something and animals were the easiest for me to control and release anger upon. I felt that my childhood was so dysfunctional and chaotic, I hurt many of things that I loved until I met my boyfriend, who is now my husband. He taught me not just how to love but, how to love unconditionally. He showed me that the so-called love that was expressed to me, was not love at all. Today, I am extremely protective of my maine coon, ‘Smokey Joe,’ he is probably the most spoiled cat in the world. I love him so much and, so do my two boys. They are very sweet to Smokey Joe; he gets so much attention from everyone. Once I learned what it really felt like to be loved, it was easier for me to express love to my husband, children and others. When you grow up in such a dark world, you must fight to see the sun….the sun is beautiful isn’t it?
JRH
The sun is beautiful. Your comment is very compelling and I thank you for it. I’m glad you felt comfortable enough to share.