Children and their Pets

A fantastic post on the scarcity of research (in the past and present) on the effects of pets on children's. Soaking in Biophilia from a young age is immensely important for a kids cognitive skills, creativity, empathy and ad infinitum. Of-course, the above inference came from my somatic markers but there needs to more scientific research to back that statement.

"When asked to name the 10 most important individuals in their lives, 7- and 10-year-olds on average included 2 pets. Melson offers two important functions of companion animals that might support social/emotional development.

The first is social support. Dozens, if not hundreds, of studies demonstrate that lack of human social support is a risk factor for physical and psychological problems, especially for children.

There is evidence, though, that pet-owning children derive such emotional support from their pets. A 1985 study of 7- and 10-year-olds in California showed that pet owners were equally likely to talk to their pets about sad, angry, happy, and secret experiences as with their human siblings. 75% of Michigan 10 to 14 year olds reported that when upset, they turned to their pets. 42% of Indiana 5-year-olds spontaneously mentioned a pet when asked “who do you turn to when you are feeling sad, angry, happy, or wanting to share a secret?” Even more interesting: when comparing parents, friends, and pets, elementary school children considered their relationships with their pets as most likely to last “no matter what” and “even if you get mad at eachother.” Even among pet-owning children, those who did turn to their pets for support were rated by parents as less anxious and withdrawn than those who owned pets, but did not seek such social support from their pets.

The second is nurturance. Melson argues that since pets are dependent on human care, pets provide children with the opportunity to learn about how to care for another being. Further, she argues that the development of nurturance underlies future effective parenting, nonfamily childcare, and caregiving for the elderly, sick, and disabled."

At times, I dwell on hypothesizing the relation between Max and a kid, if there was one here. Watching them grow together would have been my version of "greatest show on earth". He absolutely adores kids except I cannot touch them!! Missing that show is my version of you cannot get always what you want. Paradoxically, the gratitude for what I have stops me from dwelling on that show.

I didn't grow up with pets but I had a chance and I blew it. Yes, we had a Pomeranian for a year and we had to give him away since... every one at home was afraid of him. In retrospect, it was my fault and there was no sense of rationality for my fear of dogs. My mom was busy with two toddlers,  my dad was working and traveling a lot. The onus was on me and I could have taken the responsibilty. Had I eschewed that fear, my life would have take a completely different turn. No way on earth I would have left a dog and came to this country. Oh well, it would make a great possible route in a multiverse world.

Given pets weren't part of my childhood and its hard to find a nurture explanation for why I had become such a dog nut. But I did find a factor after doing some liberal Freudian distillation of my childhood. My grandparents used to have a German Shepherd, Tommy. He passed away when I was a year or two. I have absolutely no memories of him (not even a photo) but I grew up hearing stories about his adventures (a.k.a "loyalty"). I used to be thrilled to hear the same stories over and over again. May be Freud was right , the subconscious character I had created of Tommy probably nudged me (to a certain extent) to be what I am today with Max.