There’s two new welcome additions to the learning to cope household. B and Z the feline brothers have arrived and stolen our hearts. I was originally only meant to get one kitten but long story short I fell soft when collecting fluffy B so bundled up his brother Z and brought them home to surprise toddler P.

As parent I feel it’s important children have pets, I think an animal to love and care for teaches them essential life skills. I’m confident it helps their emotional intelligence develop as they learn to read and understand the body language of the animals, it gives them a respect for wildlife and nature as well as providing them with responsibilities. Already at the age of 2, toddler P has taken the lead with mealtimes and wants to be the one feeding her new friends. Ok I supervise for several obvious reasons but at least she’s wanting to help and use her initiative. It’s also helping teach her to be calmer, gentle and kind with her hands.

She’s called herself their mummy and talks to them in a lovely manner that breaks my heart, “it’s ok pussy cats, I onny here, I’m here, don’t be scared, I love you” she’s fulfilling her role well.

Deep down really I’m more of a dog person, I mean I love all animals really but dog would come top of the list in pet choice options. It’s just not practical though, it would be cruel of me to have a dog then be out at work all day leaving it hone alone. That’s not a lesson I want to teach little P, to not think something through before diving in. As much I think pets are important for children, the fact is it’s not always practical is it? As much as I’m sure every parent and child might like an animal to care for in their home lifestyles, house setups and location amongst other things can make it difficult to enable. But I think the lessons of respect for loving creatures should still be taught.

Which they certainly are in our home, in fact the new residents are certainly taking over and ruling the place. We are smitten, with them play fighting, curling up for a snuggle on us, jumping and mousing at us or rubbing up against us with a gentle purr. They’ve captured us and only 2 days in we cannot imagine life without them.

Our little family has grown and we’ve welcomed the boys in with open paws.