Animals and Children

Previously, I would have said animals and children don’t mix, but the joy in my daughter’s face when she sees any animal shows me that kids really do love animals. To be fair, they don’t know how to handle correctly (unless taught – and usually only older children are really good) and especially young children could accidentally hurt animals as they don’t realise how gentle they have to be. 

However, my 9 month old daughter can be gentle when we tell her to be. I was very lucky – she could stroke a little hamster without harming it (under close adult supervision, of course), but not all children are like this.

I believe that you can successfully mix animals and children, as long as they can both be taught to respect each other. From personal experience, I would recommend dogs as they can be trained to be gentle with children, and can be tolerant of heavy handling (for instance, when a child is learning they may pull fur or even hit the animal).

Parenting

As a parent, I wouldn’t want to get a pet for my child until she is old enough to understand how to correctly handle and care for it. This is simply because I have seen so many animals become neglected and unwanted, with parents saying that they originally got the animal for their children, but they bite/don’t handle well/ children don’t look after them.

“When people are going to get a puppy or kitten I always think they should be small enough together that they can grow up together. I do like the idea of them learning together. However, the kids have to be old enough to know not to hit or pull the animal around. That’s why I think the perfect age is 3 or 4 years old to start off with pets.”

Pets as Presents: Agree or Disagree?

Agree:

“I don’t see why not” What about for kids? “I don’t really know.”

“Yeah you can get them, a pet is a present. You can buy a pet as a gift can’t ya. But if my Mum came home with a dog I would be over the moon. Some kids do look after the family pets well.”

“My Mum got a French Bulldog for her birthday. Now she is one of the family.”

Disagree:

“They’re not for Christmas, they’re forever”

“An adult is old enough to know that they are for life, but a child wouldn’t.”

“I disagree. A lot of parents get them for a Christmas present, for the kids.”