Our pets have good influence on our health in various ways, if you don’t have a pet maybe you should consider getting one. It will certainly improve your mental and physical state irrelevant of what pet you have. A lot of people are afraid of having pets around children but they don’t realize all the good influences pets have on them. Here are some ways of how pets influence adult’s and children’s physical and mental health:
Social Influences
Beside joy and companion pets teach your children responsibility. They learn it by taking care of their pets and trough insight of their basic needs as a living being, like healthy food, water baths and exercise. A fish is a good first pet choice that teaches children the importance of nutrition intake.
Pets can help children develop non-verbal communication. They develop positive feelings and respect for other living beings. Studies show that children who are pet owners have more friends at school because of all the good social skills they learned in their earlier ages.
A pet can be a good social object for more children to interact with one another by playing with their pet. Animals accept us for what we are and they don’t judge us so they give good practice for social relationship.
New research shows that animals can help children that have autism to develop better social interaction. Australian sociologists watched the behavior of children with autism in interaction with adults and other children with a room fool of toys and two guinea pigs. Kids were more socially active, observing more people around them and had more physical contacts when two animals were in the room. The research showed that the presence of animals had more positive reactions of children compared to a room fool of toys.
Emotional Influences
Trough caring and nurturing, children gain compassion for other beings. Pets teach them good lessons in life by watching them grow. As children grow with them they learn to care more and build up more self-confidence.
By playing different games with your pet your child gains an ability to entertain other people and becomes more a compassionate person.
To avoid your child getting heartbroken if their pet dies suddenly, best way is to buy fish and teach them valuable lessons of life.
Some research shows that pet owners less likely suffer from depression, and have lower blood pressure so they become more relaxed persons.
Physical Influences
Children can gain a good habit to exercise with them by playing or walking their animal. At the age of three a child can help with feeding the pet and by the age of five he can help with some basic grooming tasks and hygiene. Pets require attention and so they are a good way for parents and children to spend more time together.
Having a pet around is a good motivation for children to develop an outgoing habit. Playing catch with your dog can provide a lot of physical activities to your child to ensure good health later on as your child grows older.
A lot of people are afraid of children getting asthma from the presence of animals in their home. In fact research in past few years show the opposite case. The presence of pets from an early age can actually ‘’acclimatize’’ the immune system that a child is developing, so it gets more immune to the any allergies and asthma later in life. Having a pet really is a good way to teach your child to be more outgoing and more balanced, instead of sitting the whole day inside decrease his mental and physical health.
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About the Author: Andrea Hudson is a passionate blogger and a great animal lover. She loves writing articles about pets behavior and how pets influence our children. In her free time she enjoys taking long walks with her two small dogs.
Sponsored by: Boomerang Pet Food Australia
