Kids and Pets (part 2)

Since some new research has come out about the benefits of raising kids with pets, I thought I would revisit the subject.

Petting the puppy

As I mentioned in the last post about pets, children with pets have fewer allergies than those raised without them. The new research confirms that, but goes farther into looking at which specific allergens are impacted. Pet dander was an obvious one, but children raised with cats and dogs also were less likely to develop allergies to dust-mites, ragweed and grass. Having pets does not seem to impact food allergies.

Both looking guilty

I had also mentioned how pets teach children to be more caring and nurturing. The new research supports this and finds that children raised in a family with dogs and cats show the same signs of "advanced nurturing" as older children who have 3 or more younger siblings. This is demonstrated through understanding the feelings and thoughts of others, taking responsibility for caring for others, and anticipating the needs of someone else.

 It's not nice to pull hair.

He thinks he's a lap dog.

While there has been a lot of research showing animals comfort people, a new study has come out showing children raised with animals are less anxious, even in situations where the animal is not present. Children taking standardized tests show different levels of anxiety and while looking into different variables that could help this, they discovered that there was a direct correlation between lower anxiety and students with pets. Of course, correlation is not causation, so research will continue.

Clearly a part of the pack

Having pets has also been proven to increase reading skills, including reading comprehension. This research has been done in many different studies. Some studied kids who have pets at home, divided by type of pet and a child's interaction with the pet. While cats and dogs were the most common, some kids with fish, rodents, and lizards also had a small benefit to their reading scores. The common factor seems to be how often the child talks or reads to their pet. Another study built off of this and tested if kids read to their stuffed animals if it would have the same impact. Unfortunately the answer was no. Apparently when reading to a live animal kids are more likely to correct themselves and explain the story and while reading to stuffed animals they often made up their own stories rather than reading the book. There have been other studies testing whether kids reading to a therapy dog outside the home would have the same positive effect. The answer is yes, but to a smaller degree. I know our local library has a Read to Rover program, so if you don't have a pet, feel free to look for similar free programs near you!

 Sweet puppy

He's looking back because she stopped petting.