Animals in Families with Children 

By Shiori Yamamot
Dogs, cats, tropical fish, parrots and hamsters… Today, lot of people live with a wide variety of animals. Most people feel at ease or feel happy by spending time with their pets. Also, in recent years, the positive effects that animals bring to us, such us animal therapy, have been gathering attention. Animals have a marvelous ability that cheer people up without words. Keeping a pet have positive effects on children in terms of mentally health, development of social skills and understanding of the importance of life. 
     Taking care of animals helps children reduce stress. Some children cannot express their ideas well to their parents. At such a time, pets are always by their side. Especially, dogs or cats must be the best counselor for them.
     Iaddition to mental health, taking care of pets contributes to improvement of social skills of kids. If their parents welcome an animal as a new member of the family, the children always must care about the pets for their health because pets cannot complain of pain with words. Therefore, children need to understand the animal’s feeling from their actions or facial expression. In the process, children can acquire the skill to understand the feelings of other people. Also, kids can deepen understanding of the importance of life. Most animals cannot live longer than humans, so the owner has to be by their pet’s deathbed. It must be a very sad thing and hard to move on. However, children will learn that nobody has an eternal life and life is so precious. This experience helps children value not only their life but also others’. 
     Some people might disagree because children often have more interests in other things rather than taking care of their pets. However, this concern might be solved by an assignment of responsibility within the family. By entrusting a specific role instead of leaving all the care of animals to the children, they will obtain a strong sense of responsibility to their duty.
     In conclusion, taking an animal at family with children have many benefits as for kids’ mental health, social skills and comprehension of life. Keeping a pet contributes to enhance children’s healthy development.