Many people believe that having a pet in the home, such as a dog or a cat, during a child’s first years of life is beneficial to that child’s development. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this belief?

A young child is like a sponge; it absorbs everything around it, from its parents’ speech to the roar of an airplane. Thus, some people believe that children raised with a pet absorb certain positive attributes that affect them for the rest of their lives. I completely agree with this idea, as I believe pets teach young children to connect with nature and to be socially responsible. Children that grow up in cities have few opportunities to develop an attachment to nature. They are surrounded by concrete and glass buildings, mechanized vehicles, and city noises. Having a dog at home, or a cat, a fish, or even a snake, allows a child to see and engage with things that are not natural to urban settings. This interaction is more likely to provide the child with a broader knowledge of the world he lives in and will make him more open to new ideas and possibilities because he is not confined to the orderly and constructed world of humanity. He will learn that a cat will play by its own rules, that a fish dies young, or that dogs care only about food and attention. Later in life, he may apply these lessons to the real world, where, even in cities, nature abides by its own laws that humans cannot transcend. Moreover, child that grow up with a pet learn earlier in life about the concept of the Other. Animals are living things, not store-bought toys that can be discarded when a child tires of them or outgrows them; if a child mistreats his dog, his dog will mistreat him. Furthermore, he will learn responsibility by having to feed the dog regularly, walk it, and bathe it. All this will translate, hopefully, into an understanding that animals also feel something, just as other people do, and that he has to treat others well if he wants to be treated well by them. In essence, a child that grows up with a pet will probably be an adult well suited for a social life that demands responsibility and duty to others. In conclusion, having a pet early in one’s life helps a child become an adult with a broader understanding of and appreciation for the world and the people around him.