National Love Your Pet Day - Teaching Kids About Raising A Pet

Raising Pets Teaches Responsibility

Want to teach your kiddo about responsibilities? Get them a pet!

Having an animal that relies on your little one and does what they say gives children an inherent understanding of cares and responsibility. Start off simple – filling the water dish, pouring out the birdseed. Pretty soon you’ll find your child taking care of everything from training to grooming!

Find excellent tips on teaching your kids to be good pet parents here:

https://thedatingmaven.com/new-pet-owner/teach-your-kids-good-pet-parenting.aspx

Sharing a Pet Helps Siblings Bond

Seems like your toddlers can’t stop squabbling? Here’s the solution – give them a pet to raise together.

Animals help families and siblings grow closer. With a pet in the house, there are lots of shared activities and responsibilities around it, like walking or feeding or playing with it. And this helps your kiddos bond. Not to mention pets also create cherished memories for families that last a lifetime!

Keep the pet memories alive with these gorgeous animal-themed scrapbook ideas:

https://thedatingmaven.com/scrapbook-themes/animal-themed-scrapbook-ideas

Animals Teach Empathy and Compassion

Growing up with a pet helps children to forge healthy emotional bonds.

When your little one learns to care for an animal and treat it patiently and kindly, they are getting invaluable training in learning to treat people the same way. Raising a pet teaches empathy and compassion, as kids learn to sense and read the non-verbal cues, nudges and nibbles of their animal friends!

Take a look at what child experts have to say about the mental health benefits of growing up with a pet:

https://thedatingmaven.com/family-resources-education/700childrens/2019/07/pets-and-mental-health

With a Pet, Your Child Always Has a Friend

Animals can be wonderful friends and companions for our little darlings.

Children communicate with animals in a way that they don’t with adults – it’s an amazing, unique bond. Kids that grow up around animals rarely feel a sense of loneliness – they know they have a loving, constant friend who’s always there for them.

We can’t stop laughing at this super cute video of kids and their pets!

HOW TO TEACH YOUR KID TO RAISE A PET

So now that we’ve established that having a pet is a great idea for a kid, what next? Well, this is your opportunity to teach your little one how to take care of their animal friend! Here are our top tips:

Have a Chat About the New Arrival

Getting a new pet is a family decision, and kiddos need to be part of the discussion too! Talk about what pet would be the best fit for the family, what changes it would entail – and don’t forget to mention how much fun and joy it’s going to bring in!

Check out what award-winning blogger Tisha has to say about preparing kids for a new pet:

https://thedatingmaven.com/how-to-prepare-your-child-for-getting-pet

 

Choosing the Pet

Part of the fun of a new pet is getting to go to the pet store and choose it! Your little one will love to look at all the various animals and check out the available options. It helps them understand where their little friend is coming from, too!

This useful video talks about what are some of the best pets for children:

 

 

 

 

Roles and Responsibilities

Having a pet is one of the best ways to teach children responsibility. How much your little one should be involved in pet care depends on their age. A fairly young child can be given simple duties, like refilling water or putting away chew toys. Little by little, you can move onto letting them feed or groom the pet, or walk it. With more responsibility, your child will also feel more valuable and you can visibly see their self-esteem grow!

This great article talks about age-appropriate pet duties for kids:

https://thedatingmaven.com/pet-care-kids-age-appropriate-ways-kids-help

 

A pet is so much more than an animal in the house. With time, it will be your child’s lively playmate, their comfort when they’re down, their loving, supporting, best friend who’s always there for them. This National Love Your Pet Day, do your little one and yourself the biggest favor– bring a pet into the house, and see how your family brightens and lightens up! From thedatingmaven, your best-loved kids' fashion clothes brand, sending loads of cuddles to all our animal friends the world over!

Sending love from Be Kind blogs. Happy reading.