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With our busy schedules and reliance on technology for entertainment, it’s hard for youngsters to get enough outdoor physical activity that is crucial to healthy development.
And during a pandemic in which parents are especially overwhelmed by time, it is even more difficult to make sure that happens.
But a solution could be at your feet, said a study published Sunday in the journal Pediatric Research. Owning, walking, and playing with a family dog could foster your child’s social and emotional development.
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In fact, children from dog-owning families who participated in the study were 30% less likely to have behavioral and peer problems compared to preschool-age children from non-dog families, the researchers found. Even at this age, young children could benefit from interacting with a pet while under supervision.
“Regular physical activity plays an important role during early childhood, contributing to young children’s development and lowering their risk of developing chronic diseases, including obesity,” said study lead author Hayley Christian, associate professor and principal investigator from the Children’s Health Center. Research at the University of Western Australia.
But for reasons that involve the individual child and their family and environment, Christian added, less than a third of children ages 2 to 5 engage in three hours of physical activity per day, which contrasts with global recommendations that preschoolers be active throughout the day.
Dog ownership has been linked to responsibility, positive identity, empathy and trust. But these studies were primarily in older children and adults, and concluded that the positive influence of pets on development was greatest just before adolescence.
Given the value of the movement for child development and previous research on how dogs might help, the authors thought that these same associations might be possible in early childhood.
How preschool-aged children benefited from dogs
They analyzed data from the Australian Spaces and Environments for Children’s Activity and Health Study. This research analyzed which aspects of early childhood education and care, and the home and neighborhood environment influenced preschool physical activity, health, and development.
Participants involved children from different socioeconomic backgrounds who attended ECEC centers in Perth, Australia.
Through questionnaires, parents reported on their children’s well-being in a few different areas: behavioral problems described how often children lost their temper, misbehaved, or fought with other children, explained Christian, who is also a researcher at the Telethon Kids Institute, the medical research institute behind the study.
Peer problems included how they got along with other children and whether they preferred to play alone. Prosocial behavior considered how much children were considerate of others’ feelings and helpful if someone was hurt, upset, or sick. The surveys also measured emotional symptoms, hyperactivity, and general difficulties.
Young children from dog-owning families were more likely to exhibit higher levels of prosocial behaviors, and had lower overall difficulties. Children who walked a pet dog with their families at least one day a week and played with their dogs at least three times a week had higher prosocial scores than those who did so less frequently.
“These results highlight that even a small to moderate commitment to involving preschoolers in their time with the family dog can provide significant social and emotional benefits for young children,” the study said.
A current concern about children’s development and loneliness in the absence of friends and activities during the pandemic “fits in very well with the positive effects of dog ownership for young children,” said Dr. Jenny Radesky, assistant professor at pediatrics at the Center for Human Growth & Development at the University of Michigan, which was not involved in the study.
At preschool age, children’s front lobes are still developing, Radesky added. That means preschool-age children have not yet fully formed the ability to regulate behavior or control strong emotions and impulses, so people have commonly believed that young children would not benefit from owning a dog because they would not know how. interact with it.
“This was a good example of how, even in younger children, a dog can be a positive influence on their behavior,” he said.
Developing empathy skills
As studied separately in adults, children may have experienced “vicarious pleasure” and happiness when playing with dogs, which can also lead to better prosocial behavior.
Animals are sentient beings with feelings and thoughts, but they cannot speak to us, Radesky said.
“You have to work to read what your dog thinks and respond to his behavior. That makes children come out of their headspace and think more about what another being thinks,” said Radesky. “That’s [the magical factor] of empathy and social reciprocity, that is, the exchange of relationships that helps us heal in times of stress. ”
Healthy development allows for human capacity, Christian said, “allowing children to reach maturity and participate in economic, social and civic life.”
Pets “can be social facilitators and help teach children about responsibility through the care, training and care of their pet,” he added.
What to know before having a dog
Because the researchers didn’t have much detail about family structures, it’s possible that the findings may represent families who were able to provide more nurturing environments for their children, according to the study. The value of owning a dog is an individual decision, Radesky said.
A dog has a number of important and expensive responsibilities related to care, feeding, exercise, vaccination, training and socializing, Christian said. And if your child is young, you will be the primary caregiver for the long term. Dogs, with an average life span of seven to 14 years, stay for a long time, so consider how it would fit into your family’s lifestyle and coexist with children of different ages or other pets.
However, there is an excess of recorded benefits from pet ownership: pet owners are less likely to die sooner; have heart attacks suffering loneliness, stress and mood disorders; experiencing sleep problems; and have low self-esteem. Walking your dog benefits you and your furry friend.
But science has not yet come to a conclusion: At the same time, some studies have found that pet owners are more likely to be alone, depressed, and have other health problems.
Additional studies measuring more diverse dynamics and family environments would give us more insight into how pets might drive children’s development.
Who knows if the same benefits could be found in your child’s interactions with the bearded pet dragon in the classroom he has been trapped with since schools closed in March?
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