We can learn a lot from animals.

Animals are often used to help people.

There are seeing-eye-dogs, police dogs, reading therapy dogs, guard dogs and so much more. I saw a dog on the news that helps a 3-year-old know when her sugar is low. I regret to say that I didn't get the name or I would have blogged an entry about her here.

An an interesting article by Silvia Foti caught my attention today (Thanksgiving Day). It was called "How Pets Teach Children Empathy and Compassion."

Empathy is a concern for other people. It is the ability to understand how another person could feel and to care about that person's feelings.

Foti (2009, Aug. 1) argues that children share a special bond with animals and that they can teach children a lot about compassion, responsiblity, concern for others and more.

Dogs help teach children social interaction skills. I [Danny Pettry] had read about a study that shows children who were blind (with a guide dog) had more social contacts and connections opposed to children who were blind (without a guide dog).

Foti also shares information about a violence prevention program for youth in Las Angeles. It is called TLC and it uses dogs to help these children develop empathy and compassion. I think this is wonderful. I'm going to research TLC and see if they're still open and running.


Here is the link for the article if you'd like to read it:

http://www.everydayhealth.com/pet-health/pets-teach-kids-compassion.aspx


Would you like for your child to learn lessons on emapthy, kindness, patience, and more? If so, check out my children's book, "Building Character with help from Sam, Izzy, & Many Other Dogs. It focuses on 15 tips that help teach children about character.

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