Posts Tagged ‘children with pets’
Pets, Children And Responsibility
Bringing a pet into a family home is an excellent way to teach a child responsibility, routine, empathy and consideration for others. However, it is very important that parents talk to their children about what owning a cat or dog will entail – this includes the various duties they will have to help out with and the amount of responsibility that they will have to be accountable for. Parents should sit down with their children and talk through what responsibilities they feel they can handle, it is initially important to give a child a task or duty that they find easy and will be able to perform daily.
Levels of responsibility wants children should be appropriate for the age of the child as younger children not be able to have as much responsibility as older. For children aged 5 or under tasks should be minimal and always carried out with adult supervision, these can include helping to brush or groom the animal, helping to clean and put away the pet’s food bowls, helping to clean up and put away the animal’s toys and thus to observe the parents putting food into the pets’ bowls.
Between the ages of 5 and 10 the own level of responsibility should increase and some tasks can be carried out by children on their. Children of this age can have an increased involvement with grooming, cleaning and tidying of the pet’s area and they can start to put food and water into the animal’s bowls, although they should quietly be supervised by an adult when feeding a dog as the dog can get excited and accidentally bite or snap. Other responsibilities that can be Introduced for this age group include helping with exercising, walking and bathing the dog (depending on the size of the dog).