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We got in touch with Kristen Mulrooney, the mother who started this conversation in the first place, and she was kind enough to have a chat with us. First, we wanted to know if she was surprised to see her daughter have this revelation. "It was something I've always wondered about," she told Bored Panda. "I was six-years-old when my family got our first dog, and having a pet was such a novelty for me. My husband and I had Buster for two years before we started having kids, and I've always suspected they take having a dog for granted. This confirmed it."
We were also curious what Kristen's daughter's relationship with their beloved dog Buster is like. "She's the youngest of three, so by the time she came into the picture, my dog was totally over having babies and toddlers running around his house and making noise," she explained. "But it's funny because even though he isn't interested in the kids, he knows I am, so he looks out for them."
"Once when my daughter was just starting to crawl, someone left the gate at the bottom of the stairs open. When I found her, she was halfway up the stairs, and Buster was carefully staying one step below her, making sure she didn't fall," Kristen shared. "He's very sweet and patient with her, and in return she sneaks him food when I'm not looking."
Kristen is also a believer that it's best to just treat our pets as members of the family. "I remember people used to tell me and my husband that once we had kids, our dog wouldn't be our baby—he would just be the dog," she told Bored Panda. "I'm happy to say that even after three kids, that transition never happened, and Buster is still very much one of our babies."
Finally, we asked Kristen if she was surprised to read all of the responses to her tweet featuring similar stories. "It's interesting to think about how our sense of 'normal' is formed as we're growing up," she shared. "It makes sense that if there's always been a furry four-legged creature hanging out watching TV with the family, you wouldn't think twice about it. So I wasn't surprised exactly, but I am a writer so I'm always delighted when something I write connects with so many people."
If you'd like to learn more about Kristen or check out her writing, you can find her website right here and The Belladonna, a humor publication she is an editor of, right here!
To gain even more insight on this topic, we reached out to bioethicist and writer Jessica Pierce, Ph.D., who was kind enough to have a chat with us. First, we asked Jessica why she thinks it's so common for kids to perceive their beloved pets as human members of the family. "Maybe children are wise enough to know that humans are animals and that we are kin with other living beings," she told Bored Panda. "And only, at some point, are they told to 'forget' this truth and begin to view humans as different and superior."
We were also curious if dogs view us as members of their family, or if they're aware of the fact that we're a completely different species. "Dogs are certainly aware that we humans are different; we are not 'conspecifics' but rather a species with whom they cooperate and coexist," Jessica explained. "I suspect that some companion dogs view their human unit as a family of sorts--a unit to which they are emotionally attached and to which they belong."
We also asked Jessica if we should be treating our dogs as members of the family, despite the difference in our species. "Pets should be treated as members of the family in the sense that they should be loved and cherished and provided with the best possible care," she told Bored Panda. "But we also need to remember that they are animals with their own species-specific needs, so we shouldn't treat them as if they were human family members. When we do, we can fail to provide what our animals really need. 'Interspecies family' is a term that nicely captures inclusion and difference."
If you'd like to learn more about human-animal relationships, you can check out some of Jessica's writing on her website right here!
We all know dogs are man’s best friend, but apparently, they’re children’s best friends too. When I was a kid, I remember begging my parents to let us get a dog. When we finally did, we were all instantly obsessed with her. The big fluff ball was so sweet and gentle, but also a bit mischievous. She would sneak into the kitchen and steal food when nobody else was around but would never beg in front of people. She would secretly sleep on the couch when we weren’t home, but she would never dare jump up there when there were people watching. I still respect her for understanding the boundaries we set, but choosing to break the rules when, as far as she knew, nobody would know.
And while I was old enough to understand that she was a pet, around 7-years-old I believe, that didn’t stop me from viewing her as one of us. We loved her like a family member because that’s exactly what she was. I would happily play with her if no humans were available, and it wouldn’t make any difference to me. I will vividly remember the heartbreaking day that we said goodbye to her for the rest of my life, and I don’t care what anyone else says: pets can absolutely be family members. All of the children featured on this list were definitely onto something.
I’m sure this will come as no surprise to you if you’re a pet lover, but apparently, it’s quite common for people to consider their fur babies as members of the family. In fact, according to a study from the American Veterinary Medical Association, 85% of dog owners and 76% of cat owners view their pets as family.
“American pet-owners are transforming the cultural definition of family,” says sociologist Andrea Laurent-Simpson, author of Just Like Family: How Companion Animals Joined the Household. “Dogs and cats within the American family have a profound impact on things like fertility considerations, the parent-child relationship, family finances, involvement of extended family members and the household structure itself.”
There is debate among sociologists about whether or not human-animal social interaction exists due to the lack of a shared language, but the way pet owners treat their animal children says otherwise. Americans often consider their pets when making decisions regarding child-rearing, homebuying, job location, travel and budgets, and in 2020, Americans spent an impressive upwards of $103 billion on their fur babies.
There is even legislation in the United States that reflects America’s strong relationship with their pets, in regards to emergency management and divorce. “As Hurricane Katrina approached in 2005, nearly half of New Orleans residents refused to evacuate without their pets, instead staying behind to face the hurricane,” SMU News writes. “In response, in 2006 Congress passed the PETS Act, authorizing FEMA to rescue, care and provide shelter for household pets during an emergency. In addition, as pet custody battles rage in divorce courts, three states have passed new divorce laws requiring courts to treat pets as family members rather than property.”
Although children and pets go together like peanut butter and jelly, as we can clearly see from this list, the prominence of American couples choosing to have pets instead of children might even be impacting the birth rates in the United States. “The role of the companion animal in the childfree, multispecies family may well incrementally contribute to delaying or even eventually opting out of childbirth,” Laurent-Simpson told SMU. “The multispecies family without children is emerging as a new and acceptable form of diversified family structure."
If you’ve ever had a pet, I’m sure you can list all of the ways the quality of your life has drastically improved since adopting the little fluff ball into your life. But did you know that pets can greatly benefit our children as well? According to Rustin Moore, DVM, PhD, the dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at The Ohio State University, it’s extremely common for kids to view their pets as members of the family. In fact, kids around 7 or 8 years old tend to rank their pets even higher than their other family members as providers of comfort and as confidantes. “To them, it's not a pet but an extension of their family,” Dr. Moore says.
Some of the benefits that having a pet can have on a child are: reduction in their stress levels, alleviating their loneliness, building empathy and compassion, improving their reading skills, receiving unconditional love and acceptance, teaching responsibility, building self-esteem and confidence, and promoting exercise. Children are statistically more likely to grow up in a household with a pet than a household with their biological father, Dr. Moore told Verywell Family, so bonding with a pet can be extremely beneficial to a child’s mental health and well being.
“Interacting with a pet has been shown to decrease the stress hormone cortisol, and it increases the release of dopamine and oxytocin, which are anti-stress or feel-good hormones, particularly oxytocin," says Dr. Moore. "We see this happen when holding or petting or even just being around a pet."
