healthykids
Why Pets Help kids
by bill strickland
Children love their pets—and for good reason. Pets aid Learning
Creatures both large and small teach, delight and
We often find our daughter curled up
in her bed or lying in a den of blankets
offer a special kind of companionship.
in a quiet nook of the house, reading
to one or more of her cats. She pets
e
veryone knows that kids love zeal and passion for critters. Our cur-
them as she reads, stops to show them
animals. They permeate childhood rent menagerie includes one German
pictures and asks them questions. She
media. In real life, an estimated 4 shepherd, one Yorkipoo, three cats,
even reassures them during scary parts
in 10 children begin life in a family with three goats, a freshwater aquarium and
of the story.
domestic animals, and as many as 90 a tank of Sea-Monkeys, a hybrid species
Educators like Mary Renck Jalongo,
percent of all kids live with a pet at some of brine shrimp. Living in the woods,
Ph.D., education professor at Indiana
point during their childhood, says Gail F. we’re paid an endless series of cameo
University of Pennsylvania and author
Melson, Ph.D., professor emeritus of de- appearances by turtles, mice, moles,
of The World of Children and Their
velopmental studies at Purdue University frogs, toads, tadpoles, ducks, geese,
Companion Animals, have long known
and the author of Why the Wild Things slugs and other wildlife.
that bringing therapy animals (mostly
Are: Animals in the Lives of Children. Like most parents, we counted
dogs) into schools helps developmen-
The amount of money we spend on the commonsense idea that having
tally challenged kids learn. Now they
on pets has nearly doubled in the past animals around would help teach our
are finding that all children can benefit
decade, rising to more than $38 billion, daughter responsibility and maybe,
from the presence of a nonjudgmental
according to the American Pet Products empathy. But, we’ve also learned that
pal with paws.
Manufacturers Association. That figure the presence of animals helps foster her
In one of Jalongo’s studies, chil-
dwarfs the toy business ($23 billion) emotional, cognitive, social and physi-
dren were asked to read in front of a
and candy industry ($24 billion). cal development.
peer, an adult and a dog. Researchers
Because my wife and I grew up Plenty of solid evidence backs up
monitored their stress levels and found
companioned by animals, we are such observations. Following are five
that kids were most relaxed around the
delighted with our daughter’s natural reasons to let the fur fly in your home.
animal, not the humans.
16 New Haven/Middlesex Counties
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48