Is Your Child Ready To Own A Pet?

By Jessica Pegis
My mother used to have a rule about long hair that went something like this: "You can have long hair when you are old enough to shampoo it, dry it, and style it yourself."

My mother's long hair rule is now my pet rule. Yes, we've had pets. In fact, we've had as many as seven. Today we have two cats plus Candy the hamster. But periodically my daughter will bend my ear like so: "Can't we get a dog? Please can't we get a dog? They're so cute, and ya know, so-and-so has a dog, and oh, I just want a dog."

And that's when I lean on my mother's rule (because dogs are more work than kitties): So you want to have a pet? Then you need more than a vague notion of how to care for it.

When kids are truly responsible for the pets they own, lots of good things happen. One of them is that their thinking skills have a chance to deepen and grow.

Here are some signs that your child is mentally ready for this kind of commitment. You can bring some of these ideas to consciousness by talking about them and seeing how receptive your child is.

Before Your Pet ArrivesYour child

* is involved in the decision to get the pet

* talks frequently about having a pet

* actively seeks information about the needs of the animal (e.g., a specific breed)

* can describe her specific responsibilities once the pet arrives

* understands how the pet would affect his routine

After Your Pet Arrives

Your child

* executes her responsibilities MOST of the time

* can link the pet's behaviour to her own choices and actions

* knows that being in charge doesn't mean doing something stupid

* knows when to ask for help

And here's one more tip from the pet pros: if you're venturing into pet ownership for the first time, avoid buying a pet on impulse. Pets deserve thoughtful owners and kids need time to prepare for pet ownership. Following these simple guidelines will help your child get the most out of this wonderful experience.

By Victor Epand
Most kids would love to have pets at home. Most kids like to have a dog or cat as a pet. Children will get a brilliant experience with pets. Pets help kids in learning about the responsibility, love, and care for a fellow living being. Parents have to give certain instructions or advice to their kids while dealing with pets. Social skills of kids can be improved by interaction with pets. Families will have a good time, where bonding can be enhanced while taking care of the pets. So many activities can be done by the families and pets together. For example, fitness can be gained by taking the pets out for a walk.

Parents can invite the kids to join them while taking care of the pets. By having a schedule for the pet care, it will become easy for you and your children in caring pets.

The responsibilities for the pet care can be shared with your children. Kids will be able to enjoy the work and makes them feel that their service is very much important to the pets. Discuss the works in prior with your children and ask them which tasks can be taken by them. Appreciate them for volunteering and remember not to force any work on them. The kid's age should also be considered while assigning the duties. The work that can be done according to their age should only be assigned to them.

The work done by the kids should be appreciated at every point of time. Parents can give their kids small rewards for their work. These activities help the kids to become independent and also to help others who depend on them. Parents should educate their kids about the importance of pets and animal life in the world. Kids should be warned and advised if they do any harmful activity to the pets. Children can be taught how to hold smaller pets by giving comfort to them. Supervise your kids while caring pets at each stage if your kids are too small. Ensure that they are not attacked by the pets. By involving kids in pet care they will get the chance to become closer with the pets and the pets too feel the same way.

Parents can teach the kids to feed them. So the pets will show a special bonding to your kids. Kids should be involved during the bath time of the pets. They can be taught about the importance of cleanliness and hygiene while caring pets. While doing the cleaning activities parents should tell them to use gloves. Children should be allowed to play with the pets as this is one way of pets getting bonded to the kids. Parents should keep an eye on them during the play time and make sure that pets are not harming the kids.

Children should be reminded once if they forget to do the committed tasks. Some kids will get bored of the repetitive tasks required during pet care. But parents should be able to convince the importance of these tasks though they are repetitive by citing few real time examples.