By: Grace Liu

Many households have pets that can be companions to themselves and their children. Pets can help many kids and many people of all ages. They can help the be less anxious and increase their empathy levels.

People have had pets for hundreds and thousands of years. There is a rumor that dogs are the first pets humans had and they originated from wolves. They did a few tricks to impress humans and they took the dogs in. From then on, there are many more breeds of dogs.

“We can actually say that children having pets and interacting with them over time in early childhood does seem to cause these added benefits in terms of their social-emotional development,” says Christian, who is also a senior research fellow at the Telethon Kids Institute. Pets can also help children without siblings because they act as a friend and even a sibling to children.

According to TIME, Animals of many types can help calm stress, fear, and anxiety in young children, the elderly, and everyone in between. It can also help calm people’s nerves. Recently, more and more children’s hospitals have some sort of pet to keep the children calmer and happier.

Pets also can help people mentally because they can teach children responsibility and if children have pets, they are more likely to not harm animals and to care for people and animals around them. Pets can teach children responsibility because it will be their job to help keep the pet healthy, to play with the pet, feed it, and make sure the pet gets enough exercise.

All in all, pets can be very beneficial to many children. However, this doesn’t mean everyone should get a pet because it might be a financial burden. Because of these recent studies and findings, people of all ages can be helped by pets. Pets can help with anxiety, stress, depression, Alzheimer’s, and PTSD.

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