The best way for parents to teach their children about responsibility is to have the children care for an animal.
For quite as long as I can remember, people have debated whether having the children care for an animal is the best way for parents to teach their children about responsibility or not. Even though the jury is still out, I strongly believe that keeping a pet teaches us responsibility. The rationale behind this is that children become responsible for those who they’ve tamed. Moreover, children accept their pets as a member of their own family.
To begin with, keeping a pet teaches children great responsibilities as pets are living organisms like humans. In other words, children might have to feed them at right times and care for their own pets, otherwise they will die. Even though some children may consider these things are not under their responsibilities so that they treat their pet as if they are their toys, it is more justifiable to contend that most children who have their own pet naturally feel responsibility of them. For example, according to a research recently conducted by the National Research Foundation of Korea, or better known as NRFK, it is identified that more than half of the children in Korea are willing to have their own pets and once they got their own pets, they treat them as if pets are their own siblings.
Not surprisingly, this sufficiently justifies having the children care for an animal is the best way for parents to teach their children about responsibility. The underlying cause of this is identified to be the fact that once they start feed care their pets with love, the pets begin to respect and love their owners. This makes the children feel great. Therefore, this clearly indicates how crucial it is to raise an animal in order to develop children's responsibilities.
Additionally, when children acquire a pet, it becomes like a member of their family. Children observe how it is growing up, how its teeth come through if it’s a kitten, or how it fledges if it’s a parrot and children worry about pets, just like their own kids. Of course, it may be true that animals cannot talk, think as humans, but children can feel their love by observing their attitudes. Take the case of pets' responses, for illustration. When children treat their pet like a member of the family, it’s highly probable that it will response them in the same way, with love and devotion. Pets provide children with positive emotions and feelings. This makes children more responsible over their pets, because they feel like pets are their own kids. Consequently, this again is a clear indication for why raising a pet teaches children responsibilities.
In conclusion, I wholeheartedly believe that keeping an animal has great influence on children's responsibilities. The reasons are not only those children have to feed, wash, and care for their pets, but also that it becomes part of their family member. Therefore, these are the two most convincing reasons for my contention.