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Top 6 Tips for Teaching Pet Care to Kids
Whether you’re getting your toddler acquainted with the family dog or your teenager is taking responsibility for walking and feeding the dog when they get home from school, it’s a great idea to encourage kids to take care of pets. It helps teach them responsibility, and they learn how to interact respectfully and responsibly with our furry friends. To get started, encourage your kids to understand better pet care and age-appropriate responsibilities — like grooming the cat for young children and bringing the dog to the dog park for older kids — with any of these six tips.
- Encourage Kids to Ask for Permission Before Petting — One of the most important rules for children to learn about pets or animals, in general, is to assume that not all animals are friendly. If you’re walking in the park and your child sees a cute dog they’d like to pet, even if the animal seems friendly, do not teach your child to walk up to the dog and pet them. Instead, they should ask the pet’s handler if it’s okay for them to pet the dog. Kids should always ask for permission before petting any pet. This rule is especially true if they see a dog out in public and there’s no owner in sight. In that case, it’s best for your child not to touch the dog at all.
- Set and Explain the Reasons Behind Rules — Just like you have rules at home of what your kids can or cannot do under your roof, it’s important to set rules when it comes to pets. Besides setting those boundaries, you also need to explain why the rules are important, such as not bothering the family pet when they’re eating or not touching the litter box when the kitty is doing their business there. You may also encourage rules for teaching responsibility, like giving your teenager the responsibility of giving the dog a bath every month or letting your middle schooler groom the cat every other day with the Uproot Cleaner Pro™.
Source: Robert Kneschke/Shutterstock.com
- Oversee Your Child’s Interactions with Pets — If you have a young child, they may be scared or overexcited when they’re around pets. They might not realize their own strength if they pull too hard on the cat’s tail or pet the dog too aggressively. Pets may also not know how to interact with children, especially if they’re newly adopted pets. If your child is around an animal they’ve never met before, it’s especially important to oversee your child’s interaction with any animal, including your own. One great way to get your child to bond with a pet is to encourage them to groom the family pet with a pet hair remover brush. Not only will your child be spending quality time with your fur baby, but your child will also be helping with removing any excess pet fur from your pet.
- Praise Children’s Good Behavior Around Pets — Encourage your child to exhibit good behavior around pets. Whenever they do a good job of petting a dog or helping feed the cat, reward them for good behavior through positive reinforcement and high praise. They’ll feel appreciated for a job well done, and you’ll feel better knowing you’re encouraging your child to behave appropriately around pets.
- Give Age-Appropriate Pet Care Responsibilities — While you’re certainly not going to send out your newborn to go walk the dog, there are plenty of age-appropriate pet care responsibilities you can give to any child across different age groups. For example, you might teach your elementary school child the importance of grooming your dog with a dog hair remover brush, and they’ll enjoy bonding with the family dog.
- Understanding a Dog’s Natural Instincts — There are a few important things to remember about a dog’s instincts. If you run away from your dog, their predator instinct might kick in, so don’t teach your child to run away from a dog if they’re scared. Don’t run and scream but, instead, walk away calmly. A child shouldn’t approach a dog when they’re eating, either. The dog may be food-territorial and may accidentally snap at or even bite a child if they bother them while they’re eating.
Source: Happy monkey/Shutterstock.com
Our children aren’t perfect, and an animal is still an animal. Even the sweetest dog or gentlest kitty can lose their patience if they’re in pain or if they feel overwhelmed when they’re around a child. According to Devon Veterinary Hospital, one of the best things you can do to teach a child about pet care is to set a great example yourself. Children will mimic what they see. However you want to teach your children to behave around the family pet or when they meet new animals, be sure to lead by example. By teaching your children safety tips around animals and age-appropriate pet care from a young age, they’ll be better prepared to become future pet parents and less afraid of animals once they know how to act around them.
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