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Home › Articles › Pets › Pets and Preschoolers

Pets and Preschoolers

Choosing the Right Pet for Your Family

By Felicia Hodges

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Deborah Meyer was taken aback when her 3-year-old son, Timmy, came home from preschool and asked why they didn't have any pets.

"He said that his friend, Mark, had a dog and his classmate, Elizabeth, had two cats," she says. "They even had a goldfish and two caterpillars in cocoons in the classroom, so it seemed like everywhere Timmy looked, he saw animals. I knew it was only a matter of time before he wanted one of his own."

So, after having a nice, long, age-appropriate talk about caring for the soon-to-be-newest member of the family, Timmy and Mom headed to the pet store.

"I was absolutely overwhelmed by the number of different types of animals they had, so you can imagine how Timmy felt," she says. "Here I was thinking about a nice, quiet goldfish while he was over at the tank pointing to a prairie dog."

Like most parents,Deborah Meyer figured that, although her young son would get all the pleasure of having a pet, she would be stuck with most of the work, so the pet that would require the least amount of maintenance would be the one she would try to convince her little one to take home. But if your child is stuck on getting a pet, is a fish your only option?

"Actually, a fish is probably the worst thing you could get for a child who is under 8 or so," says Bob Meyer of Pets Galore, a store in upstate New York that features a wide array of tropical fish and reptiles in addition to the standard goldfish and rabbits. "Aquariums for tropical and freshwater fish require a lot of regular maintenance, something that a young child probably would not be able to do all that successfully without a great deal of help from an adult." In other words, Mom or Dad would probably be stuck regulating the water temperature and making sure the filter is doing what it's supposed to be doing.

Kid-Friendlier Pets
Bob Meyer says that pets that don't require as much maintenance, don't mind being handled or don't need to be played with that often are probably the best things for younger children.

"Surprisingly, mammals are usually good choices because they often don't need special heat requirements or diets that are too far out of the ordinary," he says. He recommends small rodents like teddy bear or black bear hamsters, mice, gerbils, rats or rabbits, even though Mom and Dad may have to help with the cage cleanup until the children are old enough to do it themselves.

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