the benefits of combining pets and kids Pets

Pets play such an incredible role in children’s lives. Studies show that children raised with pets show many benefits. Pets teach life lessons that stay into adulthood and have a monumental impact in a child’s development.

The experts at North Shore Animal League America would like to express just how beneficial pets can be for children; and how it is never too late to invite a pet into your life.

The Benefits of Children Owning a Pet• Caring for a pet can improve a child’s social skills, self-confidence and self-esteem.

• Learning how to positively treat a pet is likely to lead to treating people kindly and respectfully.

• Caring for a pet helps children to develop compassion, empathy and non-verbal communication skills.

• Pets serve as an expressive outlet for children and act as their most trusted confidants.

• Pets teach life lessons such as love, loyalty, trust, affection, patience, responsibility, respect for nature and living things, illness and death.

• Pets provide a great source of physical and mental activity.

• Pets provide wonderful company for children that do not have siblings.

Things to Remember• Children under the age of 10 should not be left unattended with a pet.

• Parents make the best role models and children will learn by observing their behavior.

• It is important for parents to make sure that their children are properly caring for their pets.

• Pet ownership is ultimately the responsibility of the adult – not the child.

To learn more about how pets positively affect children, visit the Mutt-i-grees® Curriculum at www.education.muttigrees.org. This curriculum was developed in collaboration with Yale University’s School of the 21st Century and North Shore Animal League America’s development arm, The Pet Savers Foundation.