Giving your child a pet, is in my opinion one of the best things a parent can do, to help their child’s emotional and spiritual development.
Interacting with an animal can teach the child to care and provide for others, and sense of responsibility (said that, in our household, guess who cleans the litter, usually…).
A friendship with a pet has magical aspects; we always had out cat Kitty, but over the years our house has hosted hamsters, dwarf hamsters, fish, terrapins and the many guest dogs who came to sleep over through Elena’s Cat Care (I used to do much more dog walking and dog boarding). In fact, I can say to you that, originally, my venture in pet care started because my daughter wanted a dog; I put an ad on Gumtree and Puppy arrived, a lovely dachshund whom I looked after three days a week. I then had the idea to provide petcare in the pet’s home, and Elena’s Cat Care was born 🙂
I myself loved animals as a child, and as we lived in the countryside there was never a shortage of dogs, cats and all sorts: horses, rabbits, hens and of course the wild life in the nearby fields and forests. It was a great experience, and although we now live in London, I have always tried to make my children aware of nature and animals.
Here are a few articles on children and pets, that I think may interest you 🙂
http://www.petsandkids.co.uk/
http://www.myparentime.com/articles/05/article462.shtml
http://www.messaggiamo.com/articles/44753-kids-and-pets-will-it-work.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?Children-and-Pets-Do-Well-Together&id=3859497