Posted by:
gocatgo
at Wed Mar 19 12:33:24 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by gocatgo ]
>>I was just wondering what ways you all use to educate the youngsters in your life about animals and how important it is to be kind to animals? Do you think it's something they just pick up or something that has to be actively taught to them?
What ways do you use to instill love of animals and caring in the young people in your life?
I feel that children learn mostly by how the parents and other family members treat animals. If the parents respect, love and care for the pets, then the child will learn the same simply by interacting with the animals. By the same token, if the parents disregard the animals welfare, the children will probably learn that too.
My daughter, Pam, is a lead teacher at a day care, where the children are educated about loving and caring for pets by reading books, taking field trips to the shelter and continually collecting and contributing items to the local shelter. Also I believe that they have a hamster in their room that they care for, thus they are taught to love and respect animals as well as interacting with them.
In our home, David, age 11 is responsible for his dog, Gypsy, who we got from the shelter. He has to make sure that Gypsy has food and water, is taken for walks everyday and he has to clean up after him. He also took Gypsy to Dog Obedience Classes that was offered by the shelter. Gyps is completely devoted and loyal to David, his favorite person. David is very gentle and loving with the cats too, and pills Simba when no one else can do it. Katrina usually sleeps by David. He speaks of being either a veterinarian or an attorney when he grows up.
Paula and Simba are about the same age, almost 6. Since she is as young as the cats, she had to have a lot more parental guidance when she handled the cats. Of course, the cats have their own built-in defenses too, with claws and teeth which they don't hesitate to use if she tries to pick them up when they don't want to be held or she's too rough with them. Simba's favorite person is Paula. He seeks her out and just loves for her to pet him, cuddle with him and dress him up in clothes. He usually sleeps with Paula. Here's a picture of Paula when she was about 2, holding Katrina who was only a kitten at the time.
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Ruby and the Kitties
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