Bringing a pet into a family home is an excellent way to teach a child responsibility, routine, empathy and consideration for others. However, it is very important that parents talk to their children about what owning a cat or dog will entail - this includes the various duties they will have to help out with and the amount of responsibility that they will have to be accountable for. Parents should sit down with their children and talk through what responsibilities they feel they can handle; it is initially important to give a child a task or duty that they find easy and will be able to perform daily.
Levels of responsibility should be appropriate for the age of the child as younger children will not be able to have as much responsibility as older children. For children aged 5 or under tasks should be minimal and always carried out with adult supervision; these can include helping to brush or groom the animal, helping to clean and put away the pet's food bowls, helping to clean-up and put away the animal's toys and also to observe the parents putting food into the pets' bowls.
Between the ages of 5 and 10 the level of responsibility should increase and some tasks can be carried out by children on their own. Children of this age can have an increased involvement with grooming, cleaning and tidying of the pet's area and they can start to put food and water into the animal's bowls; although they should still be supervised by an adult when feeding a dog as the dog can get excited and accidentally bite or snap. Other responsibilities that can be introduced for this age group include helping with exercising, walking and bathing the dog (depending on the size of the dog).
For children over the age of 10 all of the responsibilities mentioned before can be undertaken by the children on their own. They should also be cleaning and maintaining the pet's toilet area; this will be the responsibility that a child is most reluctant to take on but it is essential that they do as it will teach them to persevere.
It is important for parents to positively reinforce any task that a child undertakes that benefits their pet by praising them when they have completed it to ensure that they learn responsibility and consideration of others is a morale that is essential for social life. This should only be done when a child completes a pet chore off their own free choosing i.e. they have done it without being asked. A great way to do this with younger children is by speaking in an excited high-toned voice to the dog after the child has just completed the chore. The dog will become excitable and jovial because of the tone of your voice and so the child will think that the dog is happy because of the chore they have just completed.
As children start to do after school activities and join sports teams or clubs, they may start to lose their focus on their responsibilities concerning their pets. If this happens then the parent(s) should sit down and talk it through with them, they should not scold or tell them off as this may cause resentment towards the pet. If a child is finding it hard to keep up with their pet chores during the week then the parents could suggest that they do less on weekdays but more on the weekend. Another good idea that parents can utilise is to put up signs around the house reminding the child of their responsibility to their animal(s).
The best way for a parent to encourage a child to look after their pet properly is to lead by example, showing them that responsibilities should not be dropped because other variables in their lives (such as their social life, increased work-load at school or lack of free time) have changed.
Head to our website to see our fantastic range of pet insurance policies. For every quote we make online we'll donate 50p to an animal charity with the goal of donating a million pound to animal charities by the end of 2012. Keep up to date with all things Animal Friends related on our Feel Good Park Facebook page. For every 'like' we receive we'll donate ￡1 to an animal welfare charity.
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