Children are naturally fascinated by animals. When it comes to exposing children to pets, the younger the child, the better. There is more at stake than just teaching a child to have responsibility for a pet. Recent studies have shown that young children exposed to dogs and cats have less chance of developing allergies to these animals as they get older. Teaching pet-handling skills to young children becomes more than an effort to raise caring and compassionate people, it becomes an issue of safety when children encounter animals in other situations.

And finally, children receive the same physical and mental health benefits of pet ownership as their parents, such as stress relief, exercise, and companionship. Let’s face it, growing up is difficult, and the comfort a pet can provide is priceless. But timing for parents is critical. For instance, you probably don’t want to get a new pet when your child is going through a challenging development period.

If you miss the before birth window of opportunity, which would allow you to have a pet settled and trained before your child is born, you might want to bypass your child’s infant stage before adding another baby to your home. If you don’t, one baby will deprive your sleep with a bout of colic and the other will wake you ten minutes later for an unexpected midnight potty break. You’ll find yourself chasing after one who is trying to eat crayons while the other is unraveling toilet paper all over the house, and it won’t matter who is doing what, you’ll find yourself stressed trying to keep up with them both!

Children between the ages of 1 and 5 years old need to be highly supervised around pets, and it takes a lot of patience and repetition to teach them how to handle pets properly. Young children and young pets can both demand a lot of time and attention. If you feel up to the challenge, you can get a new pet at this time, but consider getting an older pet that has already received some training.

If you wait until your child is over the age of 5, supposedly old enough to shoulder all of the pet responsibilities himself, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment. Unless you are one of the rare breeds of parents who can keep up with the constant reminders and prodding it takes to make sure a child takes proper care of a pet, the pet will eventually become your own responsibility. Children find much more enjoyment in taking care of a pet when it is done in a helping context rather than as a chore.

A 2-year-old child is old enough to enjoy putting the food bowl out for Fluffy. A 4-year-old may be old enough to hold Fido’s leash during walks. A 6-year-old will enjoy doing his part in a search-and-destroy mission on dog doo pick-up day.

When the pet responsibilities become a team effort from all members of the family, everyone benefits. Children of any age can learn an incredible amount about proper pet handling and care just by watching the example of their parents.

Hopefully, you will help your child develop fond memories of having childhood pets so that someday, when she has children of her own, she’ll be asking, “When should I allow my child to have a pet?”