-To investigate the situation of keeping pets in kindergartens and primary school students.

Wen | Li,

Lecturer | Zhang Tao

abstract of a thesis

In the past few years in primary school, pets have become a hot topic for children to chat with, that is to say, more and more children around us have their own pets. Some people have pets since they were very young, some have kittens and dogs, and some have goldfish and turtles, so we really want to know what kind of pets you like best. Do they all take care of their pets themselves? Through the questionnaire, we have a deep understanding of the phenomenon of children keeping pets. What are the benefits of keeping pets for children? We learn this knowledge by reading articles on science and psychology. We hope that in this article, we can walk into the children's pet world with you, understand the intimate relationship between pets and children, reveal the positive significance of keeping pets to children's lives, and give some suggestions to children who want or are keeping pets from the perspective of life education and growth.

Paper Keywords: children's pet hot life education

A questionnaire survey of children's keeping pets.

1. How many children have pets?

In order to master some accurate data information, we first formulated a questionnaire. Because of the limited time, we put the questionnaire on my mother's WeChat group, and * * * was placed in six large groups. We received 86 valid questionnaires, among which 66 children have pets, accounting for 76.7%.

2. Who likes keeping pets better, boys or girls?

Among the 66 breeders, 34 are boys, accounting for 45%, and 42 are girls, accounting for 55%. According to our research, girls prefer to keep pets. We speculate that girls may be more delicate and gentle than boys, prefer to interact with the outside world and prefer to keep pets.

3. What kind of pets does everyone like?

With the improvement of economic conditions, children mainly keep more kinds of pets. The most common species are turtles (19 people), fish (14 people), dogs (14 people), cats (12 people) and other traditional animals. Insects (7 people) and hamsters (6 people) began to appear.

In addition, we can also speculate that traditional pets such as turtles and fish are relatively easy to take care of. Cats and dogs can play a good role in accompanying children. The appearance of other pets, such as insects and reptiles, shows that children's preferences are more and more diverse, and they boldly choose their own real pets, which are not affected by the mainstream pet raising thinking mode.

4. Can children take good care of their pets?

As can be seen from the above two pictures, since the age of 4, the number of students keeping pets has increased significantly. Parents have always been involved in caring for pets, and the vast majority of students pay less than half of the actual needs for caring for pets. Only 17% children can take care of their pets with 50% participation.

We can also infer from this that whether parents are willing to take care of pets determines whether children can have pets. A few children said in the questionnaire that they like pets very much, but their parents don't agree with them to keep pets. We can infer that there are various reasons, the most important of which may be that keeping pets requires parents' energy. If parents have no time or don't like small animals, then children can't keep pets.

2. The positive impact of pets on children's lives

Pets have always been faithful companions of children. Some experts asked children to list 10 the people or things that are most important to them, and found that in children's eyes, pet companions are more important than human companions. Pets bring them comfort and trust. Children may not share their secrets with their parents and classmates, but they will boldly tell their pet friends because they will keep this secret for him. According to scientists' uncles Zheng Richang, Fu Na and aunt Zhou Xia, children with pets usually have a better sense of security, do not feel so lonely, and have few negative emotions such as worry and fear. Children with pets are more willing to share and take care of their young friends. Brothers and sisters will have stronger self-reliance and know more about what they want to do and what they like better.

When children take care of their pets, they will have love for them, and the feedback from pets will make children feel the love of pets, which is similar to the parent-child interaction when parents take care of their children. Pets themselves are cute, and children feel satisfied taking care of them. Sometimes, even this kind of love exceeds the relationship between people, because pets are always sincere and obedient. Pets are not only children's playmates, but also can inspire children's sense of responsibility to protect and take care of pets, so from these aspects, keeping pets has a positive effect on children's lives.

3. Some suggestions on keeping pets for children

Recognizing the positive role of keeping pets, we want to put forward some suggestions for children to keep pets based on our own questionnaire survey results and some usual observations.

1. Children need to be more involved in caring for pets.

It's easy to buy a pet, but taking care of a pet requires long-term persistence. Since we have chosen to keep a pet, we advise our children to take care of their pets as much as possible and assume their due responsibilities. Those who take care of cats and dogs can take them to outdoor activities, while those who take care of small fish can insist on feeding fish every day and help their parents clean the fish tank together. Beetles and lizards can help dad clean the home of small animals regularly and keep the room clean and tidy. Small animals are living beings. Only when we take good care of them can they live longer.

2. Keep clean and hygienic regularly.

Pets and we humans are cross-racial friends, that is, they may carry some viruses and bacteria that we humans don't have. Therefore, under the guidance of parents or professionals, we need to clean the living environment of pets regularly, disinfect and ventilate on time, and take good care of pets while protecting ourselves.

3. Don't abandon your pet easily

Pets are small creatures, and animal life is as precious as human life. Think carefully before keeping a pet. After starting to keep pets, you should not abandon small animals at will, nor should you put them in danger. In our questionnaire survey, three or four children's pets are adopted stray dogs and cats. They are very caring and worth learning.

If the pet dies, you should learn to face life calmly.

Pets may die prematurely if they are not properly fed or have an accident. At this time, children will inevitably be very sad and even afraid. Because death is a very heavy topic, but it is also an opportunity for us to understand life. We can mourn our former good friends by burying small animals, making small garlands and drawing portraits of pets. We also need parents' help to understand the birth and death of life, and slowly accept this process from the heart, instead of being immersed in grief all the time.

References:

1. Zhou Xia, Zheng Richang, Fu Na. (2007). The relationship between pets and children's social emotions. Chinese mental health journal, 2 1 (1 1), 804–808.

2. Zhang Maoyang, Peng, Hu Chaobing, Looking at the relationship between pets and humans from a psychological perspective [J]. advances in psychological science, 2015,23 (01):142-149.

Tan Zhongyan. (1994). Investigation on "pet fever" among urban pupils. Child Studies, (5), 24-25.

4. Soviet troops. (20 1 1). Mental health education in primary and secondary schools after children lost their pets, (13), 46-47.