Should children have pets?

Everyone who had a pet as a child knows how much these creatures can mark a person's life. Everyone who has not had this experience knows how much an animal friend misses in childhood-related times of distress, such as when no one seems to understand you or the art was too big to tell a human being.

Some parents refuse to treat their offspring with a pet because they find the bathing, eating, watering, and cleaning routine resulting from the fact that they are raising a living being arduous. Among those who defend pets, living with this routine is beneficial for the child to learn values ​​such as responsibility, for example.

Does living with animals improve health?

Some research indicates that children who have contact with pets are less likely to develop allergies and respiratory infections. The comparison was made between children who lived with dogs and cats during the first year of life and children who had no contact with these animals.

During the first year, it is common for children to develop these respiratory infections as well as other infectious conditions. However, by observing 397 children in this period, the researchers responsible for the study called? Respiratory Tract Illnesses During the First Year of Life: Effect of Dog and Cat Contacts? found that contact with dogs reduced the chances of this happening.

Although contact with cats was also beneficial, among children who lived with dogs the improvement rates were more pronounced and they even consumed fewer antibiotics than those who had no contact with any animals.

A study at the University of California, USA, found that dog house dust is most effective in strengthening the immune system, protecting children from infection and lessening the symptoms of chronic diseases such as asthma. This is because inhaling the canine microorganisms present in the environment in which the dog lives ends up triggering in the human body a protection against RSV, which is the virus responsible for various respiratory infections.

In addition to the physiological benefits of having pets, there are also psychological benefits. If, today, many children do not go out of their computer and television, having a pet at home is a stimulus for them to get moving and even for a few minutes out of the virtual world in which they are so deeply embedded. .

Benefits of having pets (April 2024)