Inter-Species Companionship: How Pets Add Magic to Teenage Life
Teenagers across the world crave the love and warmth offered by the companionship of a pet, as they continue pestering their parents to have a dog, cat, rabbit, or fish, with them. This is because teenagers derive pleasure and joy from interacting with animals and engaging with the cuteness that they exhibit.
Pets are also a wonderful lesson in responsibility, given how they depend on their humans to offer them care and look after their daily needs. This includes feeding responsibilities, making sure that they get adequate exercise, as well as cleaning after their litter. By participating in such essential care work, teenagers are able to cultivate a sense of responsibility and foster a sense of purpose in life.
This is why inter-species companionship is an important lesson in empathy, as it allows us to step beyond our selfish perspectives, and extend love and kindness to beings that have nothing in common with us. This is a lesson most needed by teenagers in some of the most formative years of their lives.
Having pets then allows teenagers to forget about their stress and anxieties during the time that they devote to their pets and indulge in carefree frivolity and play with their pets. Given that middle and high school years are turbulent times, involving multivalent pressures and intense expectations, pets become a crucial support system that offers teenagers a sense of stability to navigate such high levels of stress.
Owing to the urgent need for self-validation that most teenagers experience because of undergoing physical transformations owing to puberty, as well as because of having fluctuating interpersonal relationships with their peers, having a pet allows teenagers to find external validation in the unconditional love showered on them by their pets. This further allows teenagers to develop a healthy sense of self, helping them feel confident in their own skin.
Several research studies have proven how adolescents are deeply influenced by their pets. For example, a 2019 study undertaken by Lynn J Piper and Clarissa M Uttley demonstrates how pets not only improve the socialization capacities of children but also have positive effects on their emotional development as well as their physical health. Significantly, the study also exhibits how adolescents who are at risk because of factors like homelessness and mental health problems derive a whole host of benefits from canine-assisted therapy.
Therefore, having pets allows teenagers to weave lasting threads of joy and emotional resilience, as pets add magic to life, and make our adolescent years full of love and laughter.
Sources:
https://raisingteenstoday.com/reasons-a-pet-can-help-your-teen-get-through-the-turbulent-teen-years/
https://www.verywellhealth.com/pets-during-adolesence-5080955
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