Are you thinking about adding feathered or furry friends to your household? Pets have been awesome friends for humans for many centuries. They play critical roles at home like improving the quality of your kids' lives. Anyone who had pets growing up can attest to this.

If you're working from home, pets can help keep your kids entertained. They play with your kids and help keep them busy while you work. In addition to this, there are tons of other benefits of having pets at home.

This article explores the 8 ways that pets can keep your kids engaged while you’re working from home.

Let's get into it.

1. They Keep Kids Active

An active lifestyle is what your kids need to remain healthy. Working from home can be tedious and you may not have enough time to play with your kids. This is more prominent if you have only one child. If you have more than one, they can at least entertain each other. But a single child in a household of both parents working from home might feel bored or even worse, dejected.

One of the things that you can do for them is to get them a pet. Pets, especially cats and dogs, are playful. Pets and kids are a great combination because they both benefit from playing with each other. There are tons of activities that kids and pets can do together. They go for a walk, play catch, play tag, or just snuggle up together while watching TV.

2. Increased Responsibility for Children

You need to teach your kids responsibility at an early age. Caring for pets helps in teaching this to your kids. Pet care is one of the things that kids can happily do while you work. It helps support their social and emotional development when they know that the welfare of your pets is their responsibility.

Pets need someone to wash them, feed them, groom them, and play with them. If you teach your kids properly, they can do these things on their own. This will teach them commitment because it’s something that they have to do daily. It also teaches them accountability because when things go bad, it’ll be their responsibility. It also keeps them busy at the same time.

Take the opportunity to teach your kids about the best nutrition for their pet and explain the pet feed contents labels on Badlands Ranch Superfood Complete for, example - in that way, they will quickly learn about the benefits of vitamins and minerals for your pet.

Besides teaching them pet care, make sure that you provide everything your kids need to take care of their pets. For instance, if your pet is a cat, you can buy them things like calming beds and this website can help. Buying all the pet care necessities will make it easier for your kids.

3. They Provide Comfort

Some people don't realize how much comfort they get from having pets. But then, kids understand the companionship that their pets bring into their lives. Pets provide a special kind of emotional support to our kids. They create this unique bond that cannot compare to any kind of friendship.

Owning a pet at home also gives your kids something to talk about when they meet their friends. It’s a common interest that a lot of people have and enjoy talking about.

4. Pets Encourage Nurturing

Caring for others is one of the foundations of society. It is a trait that your kids need to develop at an early stage. Your kids can develop this trait if they are given an opportunity to care for another being that depends on them for survival. 

As a parent, you need to help your kids learn how to take care of other people. Providing them something to care for is the first step. That’s why having a pet helps passively teach them to care for someone else other than themselves. While you’re busy working from home, your kids get to bond and learn to take care of their pets.

It won't take long before your kids develop kindness and empathy from interacting with these little furballs.

5. Encourage Learning

Learning shouldn’t stop when your kids get home. According to Pets for Life, reading to pets can help kids improve their reading skills. Pets are nonjudgmental, and thus provide the audience that kids need to boost their confidence. They can be their personal audience when they read out loud while you’re busy working.

Organizations that help kids improve their literacy levels use pets to teach reading. For example, at Pets for Life, kids take turns reading to their furry friends. In the end, they learn to be patient as they wait for their turn to read to the dogs. They also enjoy doing what they see other kids do because they feel like they’re a part of something. 

It is also worth mentioning that animals have helped with therapy in schools in the past. According to The New York Post, pets were used for therapy on survivors of a school massacre in Florida. The pets provided relief by giving kids attention and affection. Soon, the kids were able to continue learning.

6. Building Bonds

You need to help kids bond with you and other family members. Pets can help your kids learn how to bond and build relationships. 

Once they learn how to care for their pets, they can apply this in establishing relationships with other family members. Admittedly, it’s not going to be the same kind of relationship. Pet to kid relationship is not the same as a kid to a family member. But it’s a stepping stone in social development.

In our current situation, pets and kids can bond the whole day since we’re all stuck inside. Having a companion during these trying times can help us keep going despite everything that has happened.

7. Pets Boost Self-Esteem

If you work from home, there’s a big chance that your kids are also staying indoors with you. That means they may have no one to interact with if you are busy for most of your day. Loneliness can lower your kid’s self-esteem and make it difficult for them to initiate interactions and relationships in the future.

According to a study by Cabi, pets can help kids to develop social skills and high self-esteem. That’s because children experience less loneliness as you work thanks to the company of their pets. Research shows that owning a pet had the greatest impact on the self-esteem of kids under 6 years.

The study indicated that dogs and cats helped in the development of children. They interact with kids compared to other pets. Therefore, they provide better social support. 

Conclusion

Pets can bring plenty of joy to their owners, regardless of their owner’s age. They provide a rare and unique kind of companionship to their owners. At the end of the day, they will always hold a special place in our hearts.

As a parent, it is important to understand the benefits that pets can bring to your kids' lives. Letting your kids have this wonderful experience can help them learn and grow as better people.

Be that as it may, having pets may not be for everyone. There are factors to consider like will your pets have enough space to play in? Will they be cared for? Are your kids allergic to animal hair? If these things will be a problem, then maybe a pet is not for your household.