Pets and children

The following article was written by Donna Fournier for PetKeyBlog.

As an 8 year old child, I can remember begging my parents for the cute little bunny in the local pet shop. I promised that I would take care of the bunny, feed him, clean the cage, and play with him every day. And I meant that with all my heart. However, the reality was I was off playing Hide-and-Seek with friends, riding my bike in the neighborhood, reading a book, or simply watching TV on a rainy day. My mind drifted away from bunny-care to homework, chores, friends, and other such things. Before long my bunny, Cinnamon, was my mom’s. He responded to her, came to her when she was outside near his hutch, took food from only her, and was fearful of everyone else in the family. I was crushed; Cinnamon was supposed to be “mine” and he hated me. At 8, I just wasn’t responsible enough to care day in and day out for another life form. This was such a valuable lesson; one that has stayed with me throughout my 20 years in working with animals. What I learned then is that even the most responsible, well-meaning, “mature”, caring child isn’t able to be consistent and responsible enough to be the main caregiver. Children have much to explore, learn, and seek while growing up, and it’s not uncommon for even the most mature child to slip on consistency.

What made me think of Cinnamon and my failed attempt at responsible animal care in childhood was the news story out of England of a 4 year old child “bathing” his week old puppy in the toilet and flushing him down. This sparked the old debate; at what point do you bring a pet into your home when you have children?

There are many schools of thought on this topic and many experts in the fields of Animal Husbandry and Child Psychology have weighed in with varying opinions. So, what is the “right” answer? Even experts cannot fully agree. What the experts do agree on is this; animal care, as well as child care, must be done by responsible individuals. Sure, we want to teach our children to respect all life forms, teach them to be responsible, but do you teach them these lessons at the expense of another life? And at what age should you allow a child to be unattended with a pet? Clearly, in this instance, 4 years old isn’t a good age.

Obviously, there is a lot to consider when thinking about bringing a pet into your family; what type of pet is best suited to your lifestyle, age of the children in the home, who will be the main caregiver, how much time do you have on a daily basis for this pet, how big is the area the pet will have to play in, and the cost of maintaining the pet for its lifetime.

Most of these factors point out the need for an adult in the home, as we all know that the parent will be the main caregiver, resource provider, and the one spending the most time with that pet. Children are, well, children; they have so many new things to explore that pet care and maintenance is low on the list of things they want to do. Not to mention, children do strange things to pets, and pets do strange things back to children. Even the best behaved pet can have a bad moment, and a child or pet could be hurt in a matter of seconds.

Animals perceive the world around them differently than we do, and we cannot explain things to them as we would to a child. Pets don’t understand our words, so explaining that “this is a child, so you have to be gentle” means nothing to the pet. More often than not, an animal will act out of instinct more so than out of training and some types of animals have a better capacity for learning; so never count on training alone! Being present when pets and children interact, monitoring each of their behaviors and making the proper correction is most important to little ones’ learning how the world works. Both need the adults’ supervision and guidance.

So, there is no “right” answer to the question of what age a child should be before introducing a pet to the household, the bottom line is this; never leave a child unattended with a family pet. It only takes a second for the unthinkable to happen.