What could be more natural than children helping animals? Most children love animals and given the opportunity will naturally find ways to help them. By encouraging their natural love of animals, parents and teachers can start the child on a life-long quest to better the conditions of the animals they come in contact with. Always stress to your child that all animals have feelings just like people do; they get hungry, thirsty, cold, sad and lonely. Make sure that your young child understands that animals feel pain, just like they do. Explain to your child that there are lots of ways that he or she can help the animals.

Encouraging children to help animals can start with something as simple as teaching them to properly care for their pets. Most young children love to scoop food into a pet's bowl or hold the water bowl under the faucet . When they play with the dog or cuddle with him on the floor, point out to your child that these are ways to spend time with the dog and let their companion know how much they love it. After you brush your child's hair before bed, ask the child to go get the dog's or cat's brush and help them to gently groom their pet. (Always make sure that your pet's and children are properly supervised so that the children are not injured by a scared or hurt pet and the pet is not scared or injured by an overly "friendly" child.)

Take your children to petting zoos and allow the children to see and touch the animals. When you leave, be sure and let the child know that as much as we enjoy being able to see and touch animals, many of them would be better off in their natural environment. Use this to explain to your child about the damage that is being done to the rain-forests or the melting of the polar ice cap - explain to them why this is bad for the animals. Ask them for ideas for things your family can do to help solve these problems. You can also use a petting zoo as a way to introduce your child to the evils of wearing items make from or trimmed with fur. Explain to them that the animals need the fur and that killing the animal to use the fur on clothes is wrong.

A trip to the local animal shelter can be very educational for children. This will give your child a chance to see how many different kinds of dogs there are. Make sure they understand the many of the dogs at the shelter are there because there are more dogs and cats than there are people to give them homes and take care of them. Explain that as fun as it is to see and play with baby kittens and puppies, people need to make sure that their dogs and cats don't have babies. If your child is old enough to understand, stress the importance of spaying or neutering your pet. Also let your children know that many of these animals were lost and that's why it is so important to make sure the doors & gates are kept closed and the pet has a collar and tags on at all times.

If you find a lost pet, let your children help make and put up posters in the neighborhood or at local grocery stores. Let your children know it is ok to tell someone if they see another child or a grownup hurting an animal. Be sure they know to come and get a grown-up before approaching any animal they don't know, but especially one that is scared or injured.

Always remember that children learn by example - the best way to show your child how to help animals is to help them yourself.

Learn more about this author, Sherry Law.
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