I have two dogs, two cats, three kids and a husband in my home. Most days I feel like I am running a three-ring circus around here, and call me mean, but some days I wish we never agreed to adopt these furry friends (especially when they leave “presents” on my floor)! They can be dirty, smelly and naughty, and I don’t always have the time to deal with the chaos. Thankfully, some days they can also be cute, fun, loving and loyal. They have become part of our family, and according to quite a few studies, they might also be doing more for my family than I ever realized, especially my kids.
We recently asked our readers how many pets they have in their home. Many commented multiple dogs and cats, fish, farm animals, reptiles and the like. One reader shared with sadness, that her dog of 15 years had recently passed. Pets are part of our families, and despite the work involved in caring for them, usually they give back ten fold.
According to Parents.com an estimated 4 in 10 children are born in to a family with domestic animals, and as many as 90 percent of children will live with a pet at some point during their childhood.
So how exactly do pets benefit our families?
1. Reading to pets can help children feel comfortable about reading out loud. Pets don’t judge. They are happy to lay beside a child, and won’t say a word about the sentence they struggled through or the mispronounced words. It can be a calming and enriching activity for both child and pet.
2. Pets provide comfort. One study asked a group of 5-year-old pet owners what they did when they felt sad, angry, afraid, or when they had a secret to share. More than 40 percent mentioned turning to their pets. “Kids who get support from their animal companions were rated by their parents as less anxious and withdrawn,” says Dr. Melson, professor of Developmental Studies at Purdue University.
3. Pets teach children to nurture. In our modern society it’s not the norm for children to take care of other living things besides pets. Dr. Melson points out that in her research, she tracked how much time kids over age 3 spent actively caring for their pets versus caring for (or even playing) with younger siblings. Over a 24-hour period, pet-owning kids spent 10.3 minutes in caregiving; those with younger sibs spent only 2.4 minutes. Pets also encourage boys to be more nurturing. By age 8, most girls have been involved in caring for younger children, but when it comes to pet care, both genders are equally involved.
4. Pets can actually reduce allergies. Many people say they can’t have pets due to allergies, but what they may not know is that if they had pets earlier in life, they may have never developed them in the first place!
According to a study by Dennis Ownby, MD, a pediatrician and head of the allergy and immunology department of the Medical College of Georgia, having multiple pets actually decreases a child’s risk of developing certain allergies. His research tracked a group of 474 babies from birth to age 7. He found that “the children who were exposed to two or more dogs or cats as babies were less than half as likely to develop common allergies as kids who had no pets in the home. Children who had animals had fewer positive skin tests to indoor allergens — like pet and dust-mite allergens — and also to outdoor allergens such as ragweed and grass. Other studies have suggested that an early exposure to pets may decrease a child’s risk of developing asthma.”
5. Pets build family bonds. Nothing gets a family together like laughing at the dog chasing the cat, getting down on the floor with them, or taking them for a walk. Pets bring people together, and give us something to chat about, laugh about and take care of.
Do you have pets? How do they benefit your family?
No one knows for sure why this is the case, but Dr. Ownby has a theory: “When a child plays with a dog or a cat, the animals usually lick him,” he says. “That lick transfers bacteria that live in animals’ mouths, and the exposure to the bacteria may change the way the child’s immune system responds to other allergens.”
