Some people think that keeping pets is good for children while others think it is dangerous and unhealthy. Which opinion do you agree with?

In recent times, pet-related injuries have sparked heated debates about whether it is wholesome for

children

to be around

pets

. In

this

essay, I shall argue that

such

dangers are overemphasised and that

children

receive substantive emotional and psychological benefits from having

pets

. To commence with,

although

exotic

pets

(e.g. snakes, spiders, apes, etc.) have been known to occasionally hurt and even kill

children

,

such

incidents are so statistically rare as to be negligible.

This

is because the overwhelming majority of

children

have non-lethal cats, dogs, fish, rodents and rabbits for

pets

.

For example

, The Child Safety Institute found that over 90% of

children

owned the aforementioned

pets

, and professed that they had never felt in the least bit endangered by them. Seen in

this

light, it is clearly unfounded to claim that

pets

present any physical danger to

children

.

Secondly

,

pets

have positive impacts on a child’s psychology.

This

is because young pet owners frequently empathise with their

pets

and perform a diverse range of actions to maintain their well-being (e.g. feeding, grooming, administering medicine, etc).

For example

, the Cambridge Developmental Psychology Unit found that

children

who had grown up with

pets

were 30% less likely to bully others and to resolve conflicts through aggression.

Consequently

, it is undeniable that a child’s prosociality and mental health can be improved through exposure to

pets

.

To conclude

, the cited evidence provides strong support for the view that

children

owning

pets

is a good thing. In the future, as more laws are introduced to ban the ownership of illegally acquired exotic

pets

,

this

viewpoint will no doubt surge in popularity.