They Aren’t Toys: How to Teach Your Child to Respect and Protect the Family Pet
Here are five rules that your child needs to follow to become a good person taking care of animals around them.
It seems normal that children tend to pay extra attention to domestic animals like cats or dogs, though in 100% of cases they don’t even realize that the animal also has its own boundaries that are constantly violated. For kids, a pet is more like a cute little toy that they can carry around all day long, which can eventually do significant harm to the animal’s mental health.
This way, the pet will start seeing the kid as a threat rather than someone whose company they’ll enjoy. To prevent this, consider teaching your child some simple rules and make sure you constantly remind them of following those.
Rule №1. Don’t Touch the Pet While It’s Eating
Even if you have the friendliest cat or dog at home, it’s likely the pet will still guard its food bowl from anyone who can potentially come and take it.
When disturbed during eating, the animal might even snap, so make sure your kid knows that they shouldn’t get closer to their pet during the mealtime. It also concerns sweet treats or some other edible things that your pet is busy with.
Rule №2. Don’t Wake the Pet Up
Once you wake the animal up, it can get scared and possibly bite you. No one impedes you to adore it while it’s sleeping, but don’t touch the pet until it wakes up on its own.
Rule №3. Don’t Pull On the Pet’s Tail and Paws
Just like any human that would be annoyed by someone pulling on their hands, pets can also feel extreme discomfort when you drag them all the time. Eventually, this might lead to the animal’s aggressive behavior or possible bite at most, so avoid it just be respecting the animal’s boundaries.
Also, make sure your kid knows how to pet a cat or a dog in a right way: carefully and along the fur’s growth.
Rule №4. Don’t Chase the Pet
Like people, animals can also feel need to stay alone for a while, especially if it lives in a big family with a bunch of kids. If you see your cat or dog trying to hide somewhere and not willing to stay in contact right now, just let it — and teach your children to see those moments clearly so that they wouldn’t bother the animal.
Rule №5. Don’t Panic When the Pet’s Behaving Aggressively
Though it’s normal for kids to get scared and lose all the control when an animal poses a threat to them, it’s important to teach them to stay calm when your own pet gets aggressive.
Situations like this can happen when the animal’s boundaries are violated, and sometimes the kid just can’t predict it. Once it occurs, the only thing that the child needs to do is to end the eye contact with the animal and take several steps back.
