Pets For Practical Life
Rover, come on over! You can teach your child practical life skills, responsibility, and biology all with your pet. And if you live in a no-pets-allowed rental situation like I do, don't worry - I promise you're not left out of these Montessori lessons.
I'm Aubrey Hargis, Montessorian and mom of two. One of the most fascinating things ever is child development. It's never linear. Children grow in spurts and then big regressions and figuring out what they need is a mystery. I like being this kind of detective...
because education is a journey we take with our children, and the opportunities for learning start over every day.
Hey Sweet Friend
Today, I'll share some of my own experiences with owning pets both in the Montessori classroom, and at home with my own children. We currently live in a home where we cannot officially have pets, though I have pushed the limits of that rule from time to time! I will share that story with you, and we'll talk about the realistic expectations for making pet ownership a part of your Montessori home.
If you are brand new to this podcast, I want to say welcome! If you’re looking for a little community support, some homeschooling inspiration, and some opportunities for coaching, you might consider taking a look at my membership community, Constellation!
Meet Rebeca
Each week, I like to feature someone who is a part of our Child of the Redwoods community! The participants in this community are such a huge part of what makes it special. This week, we’re sharing advice and inspiration from Homeschool of the Redwoods Alumna and Constellation member Rebeca, Montessori Mom of 2! You can learn more about Rebeca here.
Is Your Family Ready for Pet Ownership?
I want to talk about owning pets from the Montessori point of view. A lot of people think about pets might help children to become more responsible and independent human beings....and to some extent, it's true. Having a pet in your house can give you lots of opportunities for allowing your child to experience a lot of compassion and to hone many practical life skills! It can be part of the household duties that you can encourage your child to help out with, and when they're older, you can require them to help with.
Where people often get tripped up is in thinking that when they own a pet, it will be the child's total responsibility to care for the pet. People tend to believe this especially if the child is the one who has been wanting the pet so much. Here’s the thing: you have to be realistic in your expectations. Children grow so much more slowly than we tend to think they do, and do not have the prefrontal cortex that they need in order to be fully responsible for a pet without an adult caregiver.
So when you buy your child a pet,you should know that what you're really doing is buying your family a pet, or buying yourself a pet, because you will be wholly responsible for this animal’s ultimate care and wellbeing. Your child may be calm, responsible, and take responsibility for certain parts of the pets care, maybe even all of the pet’s day to day needs, but you're still the one who has to actually be responsible for making sure that that pet gets exactly what they need out of the home.
The Benefits of Pet Ownership
I think that once you are prepared to be the full-time caregiver of this creature that you might adopt, you will find that there are many Montessori learning opportunities to be found in pet ownership!
It’s chock full of practical life opportunities. Cleaning the pet’s cage, or cleaning the pet themselves if the pet does not live in a cage, or feeding the pet every single day...measuring the pet’s food, taking the pet to the vet...the list goes on. All of this is extremely beneficial to the child. The general maintenance of a pet is full of important practical tasks.
A pet is also a great gateway into learning about zoology. Those Montessori parts cards that are so popular and easy to find online these days are wonderful tools--but how much more amazing to be able to teach your child about the body of an animal in context? Teaching the parts of an animal is so intuitive when you have a pet, and your child is getting that real sensory experience of how to handle an animal gently, and how to observe closely without disturbing the animal.
Pets in the Classroom
I have experienced many pets in the classroom, under many different circumstances. In my first classroom, I worked next door to a teacher who had far more class pets than she could keep in one room, which she often distributed around to the various classrooms. I found guinea pigs to be a great fit; they loved to be held and attended gently by the children, and the children enjoyed and were calmed by their presence. Hedgehogs did not seem to enjoy being held or in a cage, and as they are nocturnal, were mostly asleep...not a great fit for the classroom.
Our favorite pet that year was a little Gecko that I had found on my wallet, which I brought to school in a carrier for observation.The children decided to name it Mr. President Lincoln! We kept him for awhile, fed him teeny, tiny little crickets, and then released him after having them in the classroom for a while. It was a great opportunity to observe an animal in a temporary way without the permanent commitment to a pet. Bringing him into the classroom made everyone's lives kind of exciting for a little while, and gave us something to study together. It also added a little nature into a classroom where we were not able to spend much time outside.
Pets also offer the opportunity to talk about life cycles. In one of my classrooms, we had adopted an older guinea pig from a family. The children and families took diligent care of this guinea pig; they made sure her habitat was clean, that her nails were clipped, that she saw the vet and was well cared for...but she was old, and came to the end of her life. This was something we processed together, as a community of second and third graders! It was sad. It was also valuable.
Preparing for Pet Ownership...Together
Before you get the pet, make sure you do a lot of research. This is important no matter the circumstances: whether you are bringing in a temporary pet like a snail, or a little lizard, or a salamander, a spider, or a fly...something that you're going to bring in from the outdoors to be temporary pet, or an animal that you go and you purchase from rescue.
There are some great resources out there about keeping temporary pets from the wild and keeping them safe and stable for a bit while you observe them. You have to make sure that you have the appropriate enclosure to make that animal as comfortable as possible while they're in your care. Know what access they need to heat, and water. Figure out what the animal likes to eat.
These are great opportunities for your children to do some research. They can research what animal might be a good fit, what the characteristics of that animal are and what the parts of that animal are, and check out how that animal behaves in the wild versus in captivity. This is preparation just as much as it is a learning experience!
Go to the library if you can and pick up some pet care books on different kinds of pets. Take a fantasy journey, and see what it would take to care for different pets. This can be fun even if you are not actually able to own a pet, and is a great way to prepare for pet sitting for a friend. Take notes and make drawings--really get to know the different animals!
Establish some ground rules with that animal, and stick to them. Where is it going to be kept? Can it be touched? If so, how can it be touched, and how often can it be touched? Something like an earthworm, you're going to be wanting to talk about holding your palm open and not squishing it. You hold it gently, let it move on your hand, and then return it carefully to the earth. You'll have to do all this modeling for your children, and then your children are going to surprise you with how gentle and careful and loving they are with this little creature.
Take caution and consider the age of your child. If you have a young child like a two year old, they might not be capable of not squishing the worm and will likely be tempted to pull the cat’s fur or yank the dog’s tail. It takes TIME to learn those gentle rules of how to touch a creature. This is going to require very close oversight so that you're keeping both your child safe and the animal safe. They don’t have the life experience yet to understand the consequences of how they treat these animals--or to really fully understand that they are different from stuffed animals. You model and model and model....and then eventually you can raise those expectations of your child as you see them picking up those skills and you become more secure with them interacting with that animal in a positive and appropriate way.
Overall, I highly recommend pet ownership--even if it is just those temporary experiences like the observation of caterpillars as they transform to butterflies, or a salamander who comes to visit from the fencepost. Make sure if you are inviting guests like these to your home temporarily that you prepare your child and have a ritual for their safe release!
Gratitude
My moment of gratitude today is being thankful for all of the little creatures that we got to adopt very, very briefly, especially Mr. President Lincoln.