What is good about having a pet?

I really don’t know where to start with this one. I’ve grown up with a variety of different kinds of pets, and each one has had their own challenges.

In my mind, looking at what is good about having a pet means considering your relation to said pet. Are you a child in the household with the pet? Are you an adult?

For children, some pets can be a friend they play with, or something like a sibling. Sometimes the pet is a gift from a parent, with the intent that the child learns to be responsible for taking care of it (but let’s be honest, more often than not the parent still takes care of it a lot.)

For adults, some pets are companions. They help with loneliness, maybe not perfectly, but there’s something special about coming home and being greeted by a dog wagging its tail or a cat purring and rubbing against your leg. Additionally they give adults something to care about outside of themselves which can help keep them going when they’re down and times feel tough.

Maybe I’m just talking out of my ass a bit here because I’m not educated in the psychology of pets, but that’s how I look at it.