Best 4 Our Kids

I have so many topics I want to discuss with this blog that I’m having a hard time deciding where to start. I guess I’ll start with something exciting (to me, at least). My son just turned 12 this week and for his birthday we got him a baby bearded dragon. He has always wanted a lizard but we never really looked into it too seriously because I always thought they were pretty high maintenance. I did a lot of research and bearded dragons are actually one of the easier starter reptiles, though they do require some knowledge and proper care. They are also very sociable, and we love ours already.

Anyway, the point of all of this is that it is important for our children to learn to be responsible for something. Our daughter has always wanted a dog, but we are not able to have one where we are presently living. Instead, we have allowed our children to have hamsters, and now the lizard.  It is so great to watch them learn how to love and care for animals. I love watching my children wake up every morning and go through their care routine with their pets. It is teaching them how to provide care for something other than themselves and to become even more independent.

If you live in an apartment or you want to start small, you can even have your children care for plants, although it’s not generally as exciting for the kids. Goldfish are a great way to teach smaller children how to care for animals. They will learn the importance of being consistent with daily feeding and care, as well as weekly tasks such as cleaning the aquarium. Hamsters are another good pet to have, either because you can’t have larger animals where you live, or to use as a “bridge” to caring for a dog or a cat. When learning to care for any type of animal, your children will develop skills that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

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