How to Look After a Pet: Pet Care for Children

How to Look After a Pet: Pet Care for Children

How to Look After a Pet: Pet Care for Children

How to Look After a Pet: Pet Care for Children

If you want to teach your child proper pet care, the best idea is to do it by stages as they grow. Here’s a simple guide to help you do that!

• Ages 3 and Under

Children learn how to be kind to pets and responsible owners because of your guiding. That’s why at this stage is important to start teaching them that pets are living things. This means they must be treated with love because they can experience emotions as well. So, it’s not okay to pull their tails or ears, bother them when they’re eating or kick or squash them. At this age, they’re not mature enough to care for a pet by themselves, but they can help you with little things, such as pouring their water or dishing up the food.

• Ages 4 to 5

At this age, children are more comfortable around pets and they can become more involved. You can allow them to give them treats, play with them, and come with you when you walk the dog. They can also be involved in cleaning their pet’s space. Overall, this stage is all about becoming familiar with basic responsibilities even if they’re not ready to handle them on their own.

• Ages 6 to 8

Children aged 6 through 8 are eager to learn about their pets but they will still need supervision. At this stage, you can teach your children basic commands and they can start playing more complicated games with pets. This is also a great stage to teach your children how to care for their pet’s personal hygiene. If you have a small dog, let your child walk them on a leash in the backyard as a kind of practice.

• Ages 9 to 11

At this age, if you’ve gone through the stages, your child will be able to walk their dog under your watch, of course. They are also ready to learn how to pick up their poop, groom their pet and play more complicated games. Teaching your child proper pet hygiene is also important, so make sure you teach them how to bathe and dry their dog properly. Feeding should also be easy for your kid at this point and make sure they follow a schedule.

• Ages 12 and Older

When your child reaches this age, they can have a lot more responsibilities. At this point, they’re responsible for their pet and can easily handle their needs. It’s not uncommon for kids to make a short career out of these skills for extra pocket money such as walking the neighbour’s dogs or bathing them. At this stage, they will have a proper understanding of how to take care of a living animal and they will have learned to understand their pet’s cues and feelings more thoroughly. In other words, they have empathy for their pets.

As you can see, it’s quite easy to teach proper pet care. All you need to do is make sure you teach them what they’re ready to learn and go from there!

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