Reply to Are Pets a Must Have for Kids?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]No, and it is better to grow up without pets than to grow up with a pet who the family doesn't have the time or motivation to care for, train, etc.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how there are a lot of things that parents get pressured into believing are essential for a good childhood, and how many of them are massive burdens that can go very wrong. A pet is in this category. The other one's I can think of are: having more kids to give your child the experience of siblings or in the hopes they will become close; certain expensive experiences like Disneyland or travel sports.

Now, all of those things can be great! If you actually want to do them, have the resources to dedicate to them, and they make sense for your actual kids (instead of some theoretical generic kid). But telling parents that if they don't adopt a dog, have at least 2 kids, spend 8k on a trip to Disneyland, or get their kids into travel soccer, their children will grow up incorrectly and resent them forever could cause more problems than it solves.[/quote]

+1. I love pets and they add a ton of joy to our home, but like others have said, no children have everything "everyone else" has, and children do not need everything to have a good childhood. Pets are expensive and a lot of extra work. Expose them to pets so they don't grow up with fears and phobias, but don't make a 15ish year commitment to an animal just because you think you should.[/quote]

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