As a young child a pet is something to play with, or gaze at intently, wondering why it does this or that, and even form a close relationship with. As a nine year old, a pet is something to play with, something to prove that you have responsibility, or love. As a tween, a pet is something to take care of, show, play with, and love.
If you look at these things that a pet means to a child, you realize that playing falls under every category. You think to yourself: what animal satisfies all these needs? Well there are many, the most popular being a dog. But what about other animals-not the ordinary ones- such as turtles, frogs, and ferrets.
What if you or your child has an allergy, what pets could you get? ‘Maybe an outdoor pet?’ You think to yourself. Cats can be outdoor pets, but what if there are predators in your neighborhood that might eat it, or you live in a city. Anything that you can keep in a cage outdoors like chickens, rabbits even.
If you have a toddler and it is too much work to have a pet you could still have a bird feeder, butterfly bush, or garden that attracts animals to watch. Name a squirrel that lives near your house and feed it, like I did when I was young. I used to live in a stucco house with a log pile up against it. Bobo the squirrel was often seen by me running up and down the log pile and house. At one point we had a little table and a little chair that I put near the glass front door and ate my lunch on, sprinkling bread crumbs in front of the door and watching it eat. What about going to a zoo? Sometimes fairs have petting zoos, for children. Also, in 4-h there are fairs that 4-h’ers can show pets in-and even win ribbons, that make your son or daughter feel really good about themselves.
When a pet dies your child will be really sad for a while, it’s natural so let them be sad give them hugs and kisses, maybe make their favorite food for dinner. If the pet is a fish, they might be sad for a day or two but they will get over it sooner than later. The more social a pet is, the harder it is for a child to let it go. A great thing to do, to help your child get over the passing on of a pet, is after a day of treating your child specially, to go back to a normal schedule to help him/her to forget that anything happened.
My personally favorite pets are my fish and my five chickens, which are in a coop my dad built in the backyard this spring. Here are two books that I found really helpful for my pets:
Living with Chickens: Everything You Need to Know to Raise Your Own Backyard Flock
What a Kid Thinks 