Fern Michonski / Fern’s Music
Pre-School Music Education Expert: The Children’s Advocate for Love and Kindness, Inspiring Creativity and Joy.
February 15, 2012—Pets and Kids
Personally, I’m a pet lover. I also love children. I think the two of them go hand-in-glove. Animals teach us more about love than can possibly be put into words. Maybe that is why animals don’t talk. They don’t need to. They love us completely and unconditionally and they demonstrate that through their eyes, their tails, their ears and their hugs. In addition, the lessons they teach us are invaluable. By having a pet, (or 2 or 3), in the family, children learn about nurturing, kindness, joy, death, and many aspects of life. A hug from Mom or Dad is always a welcome comfort when things get tough, but a hug from the family pet is really awesome too.
When a pet is part of the family, children learn about love and caring by experiencing it. By watching a pet and wondering what it wants, children learn to listen, to observe, to feel and to comfort. Some folks avoid having pets because they worry that they only live a short while. My answer to that—no one knows how long he or she is going to have on this earth. However, while we are here, the best part of life is love, whether it’s loving a person or loving an animal. The memories created while growing up with a beloved pet are with us forever. Losing an animal to death brings tears, but so does life. Loving an animal brings joy—boundless joy that lasts in our hearts forever. I do not recall a time as a child when I didn’t have a pet in our home. My pets ranged from cats to dogs to birds to bunnies to guinea pigs to lizards and to fish. While I had each of them, I had such fun learning about their likes and dislikes, about their natural habitats, about how to care for them and about how much I loved them. Even my crazy lizards taught me things! Before I owned the lizards, I never knew how much they liked vegetables. Guess what, I found myself wanting to try more vegetables because my lizards made them look so good while munching them down.
Some people avoid having pets because they feel the animals will mess up the house. Yes, that is true, somewhat. But in reality, my kids and I mess up the house too! My house is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy. The mess isn’t the point. The love shared is. Even if you are someone with allergies, there are pets you can bring into your home that your children can love. Now for my personal confession—I have 8 pets—1 dog, 6 cats and 1 bird. On top of that, I have allergies. For years I got allergy shots and I’m happy I did. I love the end of my day when I’m snuggled on the couch, sipping a cup of tea, surrounded by all of my animals. They greet me at the door, they watch me while I work, they greet each and every one of my students when they come for their piano lessons, and they sleep with me at night. I would not trade them for a spotless house, or for worrying about the day they pass on, or for saving more money. The love and joy they bring to me and my family is priceless.
Add a pet to your family. You’ll be glad you did.