5 reasons every tween girl needs a pet

Read how I changed from a pet avoider to a pet enthusiast in part 1.

A garage sale was the impetus for the first pets. The neighbor lady and her teenage daughters told us what great pets guinea pigs made. They described how their girls would snuggle with the pigs while watching TV. Bird's eyes got big. Bug's smile grew wide. The begging game began.

Remembering by childhood, I was convinced that a pet was a good choice for our stage of life. Here's my list of 5 reasons every tween girl needs a pet.

1. When she comes in the door, crying and yelling that you "don't understand" a pet is a safe "person" to turn to. Little girls believe that pets understand, that snuggling one is the perfect form of comfort (no risk of mom giving the wrong advice). Perfect therapy. You can save your listening ear and motherly advice for a more receptive moment. 
2. If you make her, she will take care of her pet. Learning responsibility is good. 
3. Tween girls always find things to obsess about. The idea of obsessing over a pet: reading every book they can find, building fabulous forts for, buying shirts with pictures of Rover, cooking treats for and general non-stop chatter about how great a pet is, well, it's preferable to obsessing over the latest boy band or constant begging to get an account on Facebook. 
4. Your house becomes an even better place to hang out. Other tween girls want pets too. And having a pets to share, especially cute, little ones will make other little girls ask if the play date can be at your house. 



See the lump under Bird's shirt? That's
the pig. This is how she does her reading!

5. You have a new tool for discipline. You can make your girl save money to buy the pet. You can make rules about finishing homework before holding a favorite pet. You can take away pet snuggling privileges (having a pet is a privilege...make sure she knows this from the start) when she fails to follow other rules. 

 I did my research and decided Guinea pigs might be the way to go. Inexpensive, snuggly, and with life span of 3-5 years, guinea pigs sleep sporadically all the time. So they are awake to play with during the day; they are quiet (no squeaking wheel) and they don't smell unless no one tends to their cage. And, it isn't that hard to find someone to care for guinea pigs when you go on a trip. It took a while, but my husband eventually joined me in deciding a pet was a good idea. He contacted a guinea pig (aka cavy) breeder. He brought home two 4-week pigs in August as a surprise for the girls. They had the money saved because they has been hoping we would take them to the store to buy a pig. The girls declared their parents' change of heart about pets to be a miracle.

A visiting toddler inspects Buster. 

Four months later we acquired another pet. Before the pigs, the only pet I considered was another parrot, but I could not justify the cost of the parrot again. So I prayed that God would give me a free one. I forgot that prayer until recently. In the seven years since leaving behind my parrot, I had not met even one parrot owner.

New neighbors moved next door in August. The girls met their parrot when the little green guy was sitting in the screened window in August yelling at them at "Come here. Come here." The neighbors, expecting a new military assignment in a year and a new baby in six months were praying for a new home for Buster. They found one. Next door. God changed my husband's heart again and answered my prayer for a free parrot.

And now when other kids come over, they sit in circles, passing pets around and giggling. The pets have added more chores to the daily and weekly routine. But it's worth it.

Do you have pets? I would love if you would share why or why not?

Why your daughter might need a pet

In the last seven years, I've made a habit of avoiding pets. Until recently.

I don't like dogs. They tend to stink, lick, follow me around, get hair on clothes, and they have to be let outside at 5 am. I know your dog is the exception. I am happy for you. But I still don't like dogs. I like cats. But I would never own a cat. They are too unpredictable plus the number of people with cat allergies is too high. I love parrots. But they are too expensive, too loud, and tend to poop wherever they want. And the number of people who are terrified of birds is alarmingly high. (Though as a parrot-lover it is hard not to laugh when a 6'4'' man hits the floor when your bird flies to your shoulder and even harder not to laugh when he lands on a bald man's head and promptly poops....horrifying but funny).


When my husband went to grad school and we had to get rid of our pet bird, I was sad. But secretly, I was relieved. Less responsibilities was a good idea with a baby and a 2-year-old.


During one summer in a Honduras, my then 8-year-old got to care for a puppy for the five weeks of our stay. Dear little Copper only confirmed for my husband and I that a pet would not make our family complete. Plus my daughter's pain was so strong when we had to leave the puppy behind to return home.


Then memory struck. I was allergic to dogs and cats growing up. Somewhere around fifth or sixth grade my parents gave in, I could have a bird. A sweet cockatiel name Bing. In the lonely, chaotic years of middle school, that bird was my therapy and lifeline. When no one else understood or liked me, that bird adored me. He showered with me, ate with me, snuggled me, and would fly to me when I whistled for him. His enthusiasm when I returned home from school was extreme and dependable.

So this isn't a cockatiel, but my first bird was 
before digitalphotos. I've owned one like this. 

And you know how parents assume kids won't really care for their pets? I did. Weekly, I  cleaned his cage(which was pretty gross) and daily, I feed and watered him. So I learned a bit of responsibility too.


Sweet Bing died young at only 3 but his life expectancy should have been closer to 15. My little 8th grade heart broke and leaked torrents of tears for days. But, the lose did not eclipse the joy of having the friend.


And as I pondered my pet aversion and these memories, I began to wonder if maybe we should find a pet.  A pet would be cheaper than therapy. And as my daugther says, we are so weird (translation we don't buy many electronic devices) maybe a pet would something we could get that didn't have addicting side effects. But what kind of animal? And how to convince my husband who rightly argued that we travel too much to own pets?


Come back tomorrow for part 2...How we went from no pets to three, in five months.

Photo credits:
All images used with permission. 
Cat: ShivaPrasad Madaiah
Dog: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Bird: Just2shutter