Is your child ready for a pet?
May 13th 2008 22:48
There are so many pets out there that children tend to love to play with and pet. But is your child ready for the responsibility of having his own pet?
Pets are big responsibility even if you opt for just a small tank with one Betta fish- feeding schedules, water changes, chemicals, etc. It can be a big deal, and more than likely you, as the parent, have a lot on your plate already and would rather not add the responsibility of a pet.
The only thing that you can do is measure your child. Unfortunately there's no right way to tell if your child is at the same level as someone else's. I can't say that at 7 year old every child is ready for his first guinea pig, but I will admit some are.
It's up to you as the parent to determine whether or not your child is ready to take on the responsibility of caring for a new pet. But, at the same time you still have to make sure that the child IS properly feeding and caring for the pet. When it comes down to it, you just can't say "Well, it's his puppy, I assumed he was taking care of it." That's how you end up in jail for animal cruelty... So, you're still going to have to back track and make sure that the child is still being responsible for the care of the pet he had to have.
That doesn't mean that all the responsibility is your, it just means that you need to oversee what's going on.
You need to determine your child's maturity and responsibility level before you even opt to bring in a new pet to the family.
Pets are big responsibility even if you opt for just a small tank with one Betta fish- feeding schedules, water changes, chemicals, etc. It can be a big deal, and more than likely you, as the parent, have a lot on your plate already and would rather not add the responsibility of a pet.
The only thing that you can do is measure your child. Unfortunately there's no right way to tell if your child is at the same level as someone else's. I can't say that at 7 year old every child is ready for his first guinea pig, but I will admit some are.
It's up to you as the parent to determine whether or not your child is ready to take on the responsibility of caring for a new pet. But, at the same time you still have to make sure that the child IS properly feeding and caring for the pet. When it comes down to it, you just can't say "Well, it's his puppy, I assumed he was taking care of it." That's how you end up in jail for animal cruelty... So, you're still going to have to back track and make sure that the child is still being responsible for the care of the pet he had to have.
That doesn't mean that all the responsibility is your, it just means that you need to oversee what's going on.
You need to determine your child's maturity and responsibility level before you even opt to bring in a new pet to the family.
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Comment by Kdthestrange
Noise Voyage
A friend recently bought his child a rabbit and what he didn't realise is rabbits can live for up to 15 years. So now this friend will be cleaning up after his kids rabbit for the next 15 years now the child has tired of Fluffy.
Not good.
Comment by Whitney
The Female View
Pet Advice
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