I received this in my monthly Babycentre mailer reminding me that S is now 4 years and 9 months old!
Learning responsibility
Having something to dote on, like a plant or pet, is great training for your child's budding sense of responsibility. That doesn't mean you should bring home a puppy just yet, unless you plan to do most of the work yourself. Your child is far from ready to take full responsibility for an animal. What she is ready for, though, is a chance to help out with small jobs that make her feel useful and teach her what living things need.
Pets, now are something I have never been used to as a child, and am still not completely comfortable with. Plus I see one more being to pottytrain as the end of the rope, and absolutely refuse to do it! The kids know that if they want pets, they're going to need to be old enough to take care of her/him themselves. Even then I get the occasional query from D of "Amma, can we get a dog?" and it gets tougher each time to say a firm no :(.
Though I am still definitely on the fence on this one, I know many of you do have pets and kids, so I was wondering how do you manage? Could it be because you yourself are a pet kinda person without making any special effort about it?
On the positive side, at our home, my plants are living beings enough at the moment, and S has a blast trying to help me water them on weekends :).
This post is written for #marathon bloggers Day 16.
Learning responsibility
Having something to dote on, like a plant or pet, is great training for your child's budding sense of responsibility. That doesn't mean you should bring home a puppy just yet, unless you plan to do most of the work yourself. Your child is far from ready to take full responsibility for an animal. What she is ready for, though, is a chance to help out with small jobs that make her feel useful and teach her what living things need.
Pets, now are something I have never been used to as a child, and am still not completely comfortable with. Plus I see one more being to pottytrain as the end of the rope, and absolutely refuse to do it! The kids know that if they want pets, they're going to need to be old enough to take care of her/him themselves. Even then I get the occasional query from D of "Amma, can we get a dog?" and it gets tougher each time to say a firm no :(.
Though I am still definitely on the fence on this one, I know many of you do have pets and kids, so I was wondering how do you manage? Could it be because you yourself are a pet kinda person without making any special effort about it?
On the positive side, at our home, my plants are living beings enough at the moment, and S has a blast trying to help me water them on weekends :).
This post is written for #marathon bloggers Day 16.
