Animals are a part of many children’s lives and that’s a good thing because there are some truly amazing benefits of raising kids around animals. Animals large and small love, teach, delight, and offer a special kind of companionship for children and adults. Whether your companion animal is a dog, cat, fish, turtle, chicken, horse, hamster, lizard or pig, there are so many wonderful effects on kids that grow up having animals around.

Benefits of pets and animals
Most kids naturally love animals. A child who learns to care for an animal, and treat it kindly and patiently, may get invaluable training in learning to treat people the same way. Aside from building great memories, having a pet in the house or growing up around animals actually serves some pretty incredible purposes when it comes to the emotional development and even physical health of kids.

Kids with animals as pets have fewer allergies and asthma
Children who grow up in homes with pets have less risk of developing common allergies and asthma. Studies have shown that children who were exposed to two or more dogs or cats as babies were less than half as likely to develop common allergies as kids who had no pets in the home. Children who had animals had fewer positive skin tests to indoor allergens—like pet and dust-mite allergens—and also to outdoor allergens such as ragweed and grass. Other studies have suggested that early exposure to pets may decrease a child’s risk of developing asthma.

Kids with pets spend more time outside
Talking your dog for a walk, feeding the cattle on the farm or going on a hike with your adventure cat are great incentives to get your kids outside and active. We all know the importance of getting your kids outside and how beneficial physical activity is for kids. Kids with pets tend to head outside more – to go for walks, run and play – and they enjoy all the associated health benefits of an active outdoorsy life.

Kids that have dogs particularly, go out with balls and sticks at the ready and end up running around for at least a few extra minutes each day. One study published in the American Journal of Public Health shows that children with dogs spend an average of 325 minutes doing physical activity per day, 11 more than those without dogs. This included time spent in light, moderate, moderate to vigorous, and vigorous activity.

Animals provide lessons about life, including reproduction, birth, illnesses, accidents, death, and bereavement

Personally, I think this is one of the most underestimated benefits of animals. Pets and animals teach children so many incredible lessons about the stages of life and all the intricacies and emotions that go along with them. From chickens that lay eggs to cats that have kittens, through putting down the family dog, companion animals have shorter lives than most humans, which allows children opportunities to observe and experience a wide range of phases, stages and natural processes. The lifespan of an animal provides so many lessons for kids to learn about life – the beauty, the harshness and the joy.