Pets as Part of a Child’s Religious Training
As a Unitarian Universalist, I believe that there is an element of divinity that resides in all of us and that all life is worth respecting. By learning to treat an animal with respect and to care for them, my daughter is learning to treat all life gently and deserving of worth. Appropriately caring for a pet is a part of her religious upbringing in that sense, and positively engaging with pets can be a valuable part of religious training for children generally.
The UU’s “Blessings of the Animals” notes, “Animals bless us with their playfulness and affection and simply through their trusting presence.” The Blessing of the Animals encourages us to count our blessings relating to their presence in our lives and the value they bring to us. Just as we bless our food before eating it, we give thanks for the benefit of the food then and of the animals here. “A blessing is a wrestling, wounding, deepening, learning event — not a blessing to keep us closer held to the status quo, but a blessing to bring us into a deeper understanding of the meaning and hope of life. Many blessings do not come cheap, nor are they conferred cheap. But when they arrive they allow us to continue in the struggle of life, for blessings are something that brings a loving and creative spirit of life that lets us know that we are not alone, and that there is strength abounding in us and in all life.”
In this way, asking my daughter to feel blessed for having her dogs and for asking her to meditate on their presence as a regular practice, even in calling out aspects about them just here and there, leads her to develop an appreciation for them, their lives, and the blessings that other pets and animals can provide in our lives.
Besides the religious aspects, pets can provide physical and mental benefits as well.
Pets can help alleviate stress in children. They are, after all, non-judging in many ways that a human would judge. According to Dr. Kennedy-Moore, “unconditional love and acceptance may be especially valuable for older tweens and young teens. As they head toward adolescence, children navigate greater academic pressures, increasingly complicated social relationships, hormones, and rapidly changing views of who they are. They want to feel cool and capable, but they often feel self-conscious and self-critical. They crave more freedom, and rely less on parents than when they were younger, but they also feel less certain of themselves due to all the changes in and around them. These years can be a challenging developmental period and having an uncritical animal best friend may make it easier for kids to cope.”
Children with ADD may also benefit from having a pet by helping them learn to focus, schedule, and care according to another’s needs, offer unconditional love, burn off energy, and more (Hamilton).
Even for regular preschoolers, having a pet has been found to be helpful. Researchers “found that teaching children [preschoolers in this study] to care for a puppy enhanced their social skills” (Goleman). The effect that pets have on emotional development depends in part on home life. “A study of 309 fifth graders found that for children who had close, supportive relationships with their parents, pets bolstered self-esteem; the effect was stronger the closer the children were to their parents” (Goleman).
Just as children abusing animals has been found to have a correlation to later violence and abuse towards human beings, promoting positive, empathetic relationships between children and animals may encourage greater empathy within the children that manifests itself later in life in positive ways.
Encouraging empathy and love early between children and pets instills in children a sense of the religious divine and teaches them to respect all life, not just human life, not just a certain kind of human life (white, rich, fans of the right team, etc.). We are all worthy.
Sources and Further Reading:
Goleman, Daniel. “Children and Their Pets: Unexpected Psychological Benefits.” 11 Jan 1990.
Hamilton, Jeff. “Pets & Kids with ADD.” 21 Feb 2011.
Joyner, Rev. LoraKim and Rev. Gary Kowalski. “Blessing of the Animals.”
Kennedy-Moore, Eileen. “Pets Versus Siblings as Sources of Support for Children.” 30 Mar 2017.
Thompson, Kelly. “Promotion of Empathy and Prosocial Behavior in Children Through Humane Education.” Australian Psychologist. Nov 2003
