By Emily Parker, Catological.com
When your children come to you asking for a pet, don’t turn them down so quickly. While it takes plenty of time and effort to care for a furry family member, more and more scientific evidence is beginning to point out the numerous benefits our four-legged family members give our kids.
For starters, let’s look at how owning pets will make your kids more confident and responsible. Based on studies from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, owning a pet that shows them unconditional love and support gives kids the confidence to try new activities as well as make new friends. Along with this, taking care of their pets each day by feeding, cleaning, and playing with them teaches kids the importance of keeping a daily schedule, making them more responsible.
And then there are the benefits pets provide in keeping your kids healthy. Based on studies found in the Journal of Pediatrics, having a pet in your home will make your child’s immune system much stronger. For children who had pets in the home from birth to age one, researchers found the children had over 30 percent fewer respiratory illnesses and over 40 percent fewer ear infections!
Need more? There are also studies showing pets help kids become better readers. By having a pet who sits quietly and listens to them read, your child will not only enjoy reading much more, but will also discover that it’s okay to make a mistake now and then, since the pet will be nonjudgmental and not criticize the child while they are learning proper reading techniques.
In case you want even MORE of a reason to get a pet for your child, check out the infographic below, or read the whole post on Catological!
