Household pets have been found to reduce stress, improve the heart, and help children with their social and emotional skills. These are all excellent reasons to bring home a pet.
Of course, your home needs to be a safe environment for your family as well as the animal, so there are some considerations to make. Timing is important, as well as knowing exactly how you should go about it.
Are You Ready for A Pet?
While there are several positive reasons for adding a pet to the family, you and your family need to be ready for the change. Children can help with certain tasks, like feeding and gentle play.
However, they can’t be expected to care entirely for a pet. So make sure you are ready for that responsibility, and consider technology that can enhance your animal’s life and help you give them the best experience.
Apart from caring for the pet, you’ll need to be able to supervise young children at all times when they’re interacting with the animal to ensure they learn how – and how not – to treat their new friend.
In many ways, a new pet is akin to bringing in a new sibling, especially for younger children; in that way, it can alter the family dynamic. There’s a new ‘child’ in the home, so be sure to create boundaries.
Where To Have First Introductions
Just like timing, the location of the initial introductions is also important. There are multiple first introductions when you take into account the different environments.
Of course, interact with the animal on its ground first, be that in an adoption center or the home of their current family. When you’re ready to bring the pet home, prepare a room to start with and secure it to prevent the pet from wandering away.
Make sure to pet-proof this room, and set up anything they might need before bringing them in. Once they have acclimatized to space, you can begin increasing the area they have access to.
This helps ease them – and your kids – into the new living situation.
How to Go About The Introduction
Provided you know you’re ready, and you’ve prepared a space, there’s just a tad more to consider. How to actually introduce your pet to your kids. Putting them all in a room together is a recipe for anarchy for all parties.
It’s best to introduce children and pets very slowly and cautiously, ideally with a barrier to start with, like a baby gate. This provides both the pet and child with a sense of security.
Make sure to read the pet’s body language, as well as gauge your child’s reaction, and only proceed with more contact once they both seem confident in doing so.
All in all, introducing a new pet is individual to each family. Take things as slowly as you need to ensure the new animal feels welcomed and safe, and your family feels happy to welcome them home.
There are many different things your children can learn from owning a pet, whether you have just adopted a puppy, kitten, or any other type of animal for your family to love and care for together.
