by Cari Hillard

Created on: October 11, 2009   Last Updated: October 12, 2009

Does pet ownership teach children responsibility? It can. No one should purchase a pet for the sole reason of teaching their children. There are other more effective ways to do that. You must be prepared to take care of the pet yourself. Animals are living creatures and not tools. I have many animals, because I love them. That is the only reason anyone should get pets. Now, if those are your reasons then there are things you can do that will help your children learn not only responsibility but many other important life lessons. Some children will refuse to take care of pets. Some may have no interest in them. Some may simply be forgetful.

I have a dog, large fish tank (entirely my responsibility), one hamster, and six parakeets, which I breed. Once my daughter tried to clean the parakeets' water bowl with Windex. Had I not been paying attention, this would have killed the birds. She was just trying to be helpful. She did learn a very valuable lesson from this. It broke her heart to think that she could have made them "sick". From that point on she was extra careful. This proves though, that most children are just too immature to handle the responsibility of proper care of animals. Anything children do to help should be closely supervised.

The one thing that I have my daughter take care of is filling our dog's food and water bowls. Now, If I don't reminder her, then our dog would starve. People need to also consider their child's behavioral patterns. Will they torment your pet? Parakeets for example are very sensitive animals. You can upset them to the point of death. Hamsters are great pets for kids, but they need to be taught to treat them gently. If you end up with a hamster that bites what do you think that will teach your child. The same goes for any animal. A pet owner with children has the extra benefit of giving their children small (supervised) tasks that will help them learn. It can make them feel grown up to nurture a life. These are important responsibilities and that makes them feel even bigger. Toddlers obviously are way too young. They should be kept away from small pets for the animal's safety. Older children can learn a lot from taking care of their pets.

It boils down to the fact that it is the parent's responsibility to teach their children. Every family and every individual is different, you as the parent must make this decision. Are you up for the challenge because ultimately it is yours to have. Do you want pets? Living creatures can teach everyone how to have empathy and responsibility. But teaching your children is up to you.

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