CHOOSING THE BEST PETS FOR KIDS AT YOUR SETTING
Owning a pet can enrich a childhood. As well as provide children with companionship and years of joy, they can also teach children a lot of life lessons, hence enhance your childcare business if you run one. However, choosing the wrong pet could also do your business more harm than good, so we’ve compiled a list of the 6 best pets for kids for you to consider. If you are a first time pet owner or have limited time and resources to care for a demanding pet, then these options will give give you the best of both worlds.
Benefits of keeping pets for your child
- Pets teach children responsibility
- How they need to care for another and look after living things
- Understand that pets can have different personalities and get sick too
- Companionship
- Some pets return a child’s loving attention
- Teach them science and other academic skills
Benefits of pets for your childcare business
Many working parents don’t have the time to keep and care for pets in their home, not even small pets for kids, but would love their children to grow up with them. For this reason, pets can attract more customers to your business and be an investment in the long run, rather than an unnecessary cost.
Choose your pet carefully and the financial rewards will far outweigh their costs.
To ensure your pet, children and you are happy, you need to choose the right pet for you. So we’ll look at 6 good pets for kids which could: enhance your setting, are easy to care for, will appeal to children and also won’t cost you a fortune to keep.
We will start with the easiest and cheapest pets to care for, but be aware all pets big or small will cost around £100 initially to house as you will need to buy equipment and accessories for them too. But weekly or monthly maintenance should be easy and not cost more than a few pounds a month, which makes these pets affordable and ideal.
Don’t forget to check – ‘Pets to Avoid as a childcare provider‘, if you are a first time pet-owner or have limited time to care for a high maintenance pet.
No.1 Cherry Shrimp Tank
Cherry shrimp tanks and tanks containing snails, may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but some think they are cute and fascinating. Whatever your feelings, they will intrigue children and…
No.2 Tropical Betta Fish
As a general rule, tropical fish should not be on this list. Although more colourful than most temperate fish, they are a lot harder to keep and considerably more expensive…
No.3 African Dwarf Frog
While these crazy little creatures can be kept in a tropical fish tank with friendly tropical fish, African Dwarf frogs can also be kept alone more cheaply in their own…
No.4 Budgies & Cockatiels
Okay, so far we’ve looked at the cheapest and easiest pets to look after on a budget. Although entertaining, the top 4 pets chosen so far are not very ‘affectionate’….
No.5 Temperate Fish
Traditionally, goldfish have been seen as the iconic fish for children to keep, but despite their popularity because they can be kept easily in cold water they do not make…
No.6 A Cat
The cat is the last pet on our list as they are easy to care for, but are also the most expensive, because of the need to take them to…
Other things to consider:
Pets to avoid as a childcare provider
If you are an experienced pet owner and have kept pets for years, then some of the advice in this article will not apply to you. However, if you are…