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Is Gifting your Children a Pet for Christmas a Bad Idea?

It’s not, if you and your children are ready for the commitments and responsibilities you’re getting into.

Judith Uusi-Hakimo
4 min readDec 26, 2022
Two people walking in the rain with their two dogs. The dogs have raincoats. The man was holding an umbrella wearing a black jeans and purple sweater while the woman is wearing a yellow raincoat and black shoes.
Photo by Yaroslav Shuraev: https://www.pexels.com/photo/couple-walking-the-dogs-on-a-rainy-day-8499461/

Three Christmases ago, my children begged me to come to an animal rescue facility called RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) to look for a pet to adopt. The kids love animals, and they wanted a pet for Christmas.

I’ve explained to them that having another pet may be too much as we already have three pets at home (one dog and two cats). However, as an animal lover myself, I was convinced to go.

The facility was full of people. The animals were nicely kept in their cages, big enough for them to move around. A chocolate-colored siamese cat caught our attention; she looked sad and lonely. Our hearts melted when we started patting her.

“Please, mum, please… can we have her?” the children begged. Although hesitant initially, I was convinced to adopt the cat and let it be my gift to the kids for Christmas.

The cat needs a new home. Deep inside, the child in me was so excited to have another pet too. I was scared of the thought of going through some challenges ahead by having one more pet. However, having several years of experience looking after pets, I…

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Judith Uusi-Hakimo
Judith Uusi-Hakimo

Written by Judith Uusi-Hakimo

A Nurse by profession. A mother of three and a wife of one. A storytellerl and an aspiring writer.

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