Imagine having a hard stressful day at the office and coming home to beautiful eyes and exciting jumps. The whole day’s stress just melts off when your pets rest their head in your laps because for them the sight of you is their whole world. This sounds so wholesome and perfect but being a pet parent, you know that you are their whole life and for them, everything revolves around you and your happiness. As adults, if we are so overjoyed at the sight of our pets, imagine the positive effect they can have on the children.
According to the research paper published by NCBI, childhood and adolescence are crucial life phases in their contribution to the quality of health, emotional well-being, learning, and behavior across the life span. Companion animals (including horses, dogs, cats, rabbits, and other living
beings) have the potential to promote healthy emotional youth development in many ways, as shown by research in Human-Animal Interactions (HAI). Pets are becoming an important family member nowadays and rightly so.
In addition to enhancing mood and improving the quality of health and emotional well-being, pets can help children learn about responsibility. Children can be entrusted with the tasks of taking care of their pet’s meals and hygiene. Moreover, children can learn trust and compassion from
their pets. According to the research done by Michigan University, children with pets grew up to be more empathetic and socially aware than children without any pets. Children can also find a non-judgemental, secret keeper and best friend in their pets who listen to their hardships without any judgments. This can prove beneficial for a child’s mental and physical well-being.
I want to conclude with a quote “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” Pets can enrich our lives with love, compassion, empathy and so much more. All the children in the world deserve a pet’s love and vice versa.
By, Ms. Shubra Rai, Science Teacher, Middle School, Ekya ITPL
