Getting a pet for your kids is always special. It’s a fantastic way to keep children occupied. Apart from being great companions, pets can help develop confidence, keep children active, and may even help boost the body’s immune response. The countless benefits of a pet for your child’s wellbeing are undeniable.
And now science says they may have a significant influence on specific learning processes, too. The findings are certainly exciting and could have a profound impact on how parents help their children learn.
So, let’s take a look at what studies have uncovered and explore how you could create a better learning environment for your child.
1. Improve reading
Reading skills are essential for early childhood learning. And reading to pets could have a far-reaching effect on your child’s ability and motivation to read.
According to one research, second-graders who read out loud to dogs for just 30 minutes a week showed an improved attitude towards reading by a significant margin compared to those who didn’t.
Canine-assisted intervention programs are already used in some schools to help children with reading difficulties. But studies suggest that all kids, in general, could benefit from reading to pets. In fact, UBC Okanagan researchers now say that it can significantly increase the time spent reading. Out of Grade 1 to 3 students who took part in their study, 70% who read to dogs chose to continue reading compared to only 40% of the control group who read on their own.
2. Help develop social skills
Studies by the University of Florida have found that when children are exposed to stress-inducing tasks, dogs were more helpful than parents in reducing their stress levels. This is an important finding that could have a remarkable influence on your child’s ability to deal with social situations. “How we learn to deal with stress as children has lifelong consequences for how we cope with stress as adults,” says Darlene Kertes at the University.
But not only that, the presence of a dog could get quieter kids to participate more in group activities and may even help reduce the hyperactive and aggressive behaviors of others. Research shows that having a dog in the classroom increased social interaction and integration among students and made them “more socially homogenous”. It even led to improved self-regulation.
3. Support problem-solving
Animal-assisted interventions have long helped improve the problem-solving skills of children with emotional disorders. However, a pet could support the development of such skills for any child.
Regularly taking care of a canine companion, for instance, can help your child become more independent and develop confidence. It could create opportunities for them to assess the impact of their actions, develop empathy and fairness, learn to predict behaviors, observe cause and effect, and compare and analyze situations—all of which are essential for problem-solving. Studies have also shown that pets could support the cognitive growth of children by stimulating curiosity.
And unlike human companions, pets don’t judge. And this could encourage kids to make decisions more confidently, without any fear of being criticized or punished for making mistakes.
4. Improve attention and concentration
It’s natural for parents to fear that a pet could become a distraction to a child’s learning process. But many educators suggest otherwise. In fact, there is increasing scientific evidence to support this as well. For instance, studies have found that pre-schoolers who were assigned motor skill tasks performed faster and with greater accuracy in the presence of a therapy dog. They also made much fewer errors in object categorization tasks. And not only that, children paid more attention, asked more questions from the teacher, and showed improved engagement, attention, and concentration performance when a pet was present.
5. Boost memory
Improved attention and concentration can also help improve memory retention. So, not only can pets help create some lasting memories, but they can also help boost your child’s memory—an essential element for learning.
Research by Nancy R. Gee and the team shows that when a dog was present, pre-schoolers performed memory tasks with much fewer prompts and showed increased levels of object recognition.
Besides, more engaged senses could enable children to store and retrieve information faster. It’s one of the main reasons for using learning activities to support classroom lessons. And a pet could often help your kids achieve a similar level of sensory engagement.
Clearly, a pet could do much more than provide your kids with companionship. It could, in fact, make your child’s learning environment much more interesting, fun, and engaging and help them with their learning process in surprising ways.
