The Pawsitive Effects of Raising Kids with Pets

Is your home without a pet? Are you worried about your little ones getting along with a furry companion? Don't! Studies show that pets are tremendously helpful with your children's development.

I grew up on a farm in South Carolina with horses, ducks, chickens, cows, dogs, cats, parrots... you name it, we had it. My furry and winged pals gave me the confidence to set out on numerous adventures from my first skinned knee to my first heart break. They were my best friends when I had no one else to talk to. 

Overall, an estimated 4 in 10 children begin life in a family with domestic animals, and as many as 90 percent of all kids live with a pet at some point during their childhood, says Gail F. Melson, PhD, professor emeritus of developmental studies at Purdue University, in Indiana, and the author of Why the Wild Things Are: Animals in the Lives of Children.


So what are the benefits of pets in these kids lives?

1. Responsibility 

Pets rely completely on their families to feed them, give them water, clean up after them, and exercise them. This teaches kids early on how to take care of others and to be depended on. Kids who are present in the care of the animals typically learn to be more compassionate and empathetic. This in turn makes the kids better at taking care of themselves too! At an early age, kids can watch the parents and help as they are able taking on more responsibility as they get older. 

2. Learning

I used to line my stuffed animals up and my cat and play teacher. I would make fake tests and pass them out and grade their "answers" a.k.a. whatever answer I marked for them. I thought I was an especially imaginative child, but apparently this is very common and educators have brought animals (mostly dogs) into schools to help developmentally challenged kids learn. There is also a program called "Book Buddies" where kids read to sheltered cats at The Animal Rescue League of Berks County Pennsylvania. The kids feel less judged while honing their reading skills and the kitties get the comfort and play they need.

3. Health

For physical health, According to a study by Dennis Ownby, MD, a pediatrician and head of the allergy and immunology department of the Medical College of Georgia, in Augusta, having multiple pets actually decreases a child's risk of developing certain allergies. His research tracked a group of 474 babies from birth to about age 7. He found that the children who were exposed to two or more dogs or cats as babies were less than half as likely to develop common allergies as kids who had no pets in the home. Crazy, right?! 

Dr. Ownby has a theory: "When a child plays with a dog or a cat, the animals usually lick him," he says. "That lick transfers bacteria that live in animals' mouths, and the exposure to the bacteria may change the way the child's immune system responds to other allergens." 


For mental health, pets help with an array of mental disabilities. Did you know that a cat's purr is healing? No, seriously! Cat purr vibrations are in the 20 Hz to 140 Hz range, which means their purring itself can have a therapeutic effect! A 2011 survey by the Mental Health Foundation and Cats Protection found that 87 per cent of cat owners feel their pets have a positive impact on their well-being and 76 per cent find coping with everyday life easier thanks to their kitties. Sign me up!

4. Family Bonding

"Whenever I ask children and parents if their pets are truly part of the family, most of them seem surprised -- and almost offended -- at the question," Dr. Melson says. The most common response: "Of course they are!"

Pets can be the center of your activities as a family. A trip to the dog park, a camping trip, fishing, all are immensely more fun with a wagging overflowing happy tank along side you. Each family member shares in the responsibility of caring for the pet too which inspires communication and provides a commonality between everyone which is especially important during the teenage years.

You can't still be hesitant about sharing your home with one of those cute faces! What are you waiting for? Go get your new family member! 

July 4th

I'd be JuLYING if I said I didn't like dressing up for the 4th. Ha! Anyways...It is Independence Day, and I'm just in my new apartment listening to people go nuts with patriotism. I'm not too patriotic myself, but it's fun to see people get into it and dress up in red, white and blue. I can see why a lot of countries chose those colors, because they look BOMB together. This outfit I made myself from a skirt that just reached my shins. I absolutely love it, and the top is so great I decided to post 3, count it, 3 different July 4th outfits using this top!

My hair is an absolute mess right now, but you can see that I dyed it a good bit darker than what it was when I posted a month ago. I LOVE it. The darker color brings out my features better, and I am all for that. SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED since I last posted holy moly. Ok so quick re-cap: I have a new place which I HAVE to show you once I get it set up better, I am single and I get to have my kitties back! All such great news. Oh and my classes are over, and I have so much time now!!! Ok enough of that here's outfit #2! How great are these glasses by the way?

Now ladies and gents, outfit #3! Which one is your favorite? I love the matching crop top and skirt, but I do also love these high waisted white shorts. 

I hope you have a lovely 4th. I may go get some stuff to make cupcakes and just hang out at the pool. Nashville always has a wonderful fireworks show (APA voted it #2 must-see fireworks show) so I may go check that out later.

Till next time!

Jess

Good Monday

It is finally summer, and I have so much free time that I've decided to start posting more on this ole blog again! I'm dusting off the cobwebs by introducing you to these 2 furballs that we (Pat and I) found in the roof. That's right IN the roof. They were 10 days old when we found them, and we bottle fed them and wiped their poopy butts and now they're 7 weeks old! They're using the litter box and completely weaned! The brown one is Sergeant Pepper, but we call her Sarge. The orange tabby is Tater Tot, but I call him Tate for short.

I've been with Pat now for 4 and a half months, and it has been the greatest. I've been really good friends with him for a year and a half and made him wait about half of that time before I'd date him :3.  I'm so glad he waited, because this has been the most rewarding, least stressful, most supporting relationship I have ever been in. He has claimed the kittens and I couldn't be happier, because that means I get to take care of them and watch them grow into big kits.

 Now that I've introduced to you the new loves in my life I guess I could talk a bit about myself! I had been so extremely busy and unhappy I decided to take some major me time and hang out with friends more and really just let loose. That meant a blogging hiatus! I had the most fun meeting so many people around middle Tennessee and actually going out to trashy bars and house shows, but now I'm ready to settle back down again and only go out when I'm supporting Pat playing. Well that and you can't go out for very long when you have to feed kittens ever 3 hours the first 2 weeks, 4 hours when their 3 weeks, 5 when they're 4 weeks... you get the picture haha. I already have 3 more posts lined up, and I'd really like to get this thing rolling again!

Till next time,

Jess

Season's Greetings

Phewwwww has it been a hot minute and a half since I last posted on here??? I was kicking butt all semester and just really didn't have time. If I had my camera in my hand it was to take photos for class and my other free time was eaten up by the fact that I'm being recorded and helping 5 different bands. OH YEAH. Busy girl right here. I'll definitely have time to post more during this break, and then it may be stark again as classes started up, but BOY have I missed this. I HAVE CHRISTMAS PICTURES! SO MANY CHRISTMAS PICTURES TO SHARE!! I don't know what it is, but this year I am in the spirit. It helps that I have cats that make everything much more fuzzy and adorable (I have plenty of those pictures to share as well for another time). Also we homemade Christmas cookies for the first time as a family. =]

 My sister and I ended up doing the most work as Mom didn't know how to roll the dough/cut out the cookies, which is pretty funny since she is an amazing cook. Maybe that's the real reason why this year I feel more in the spirit of things, we are doing more family things and aren't fighting. It's such a beautiful, rejuvenating feeling. My Memaw has also come down to visit more, and I love her company and knowledge of pretty much everything. She supplied us with the cute Christmas cookie cutters.

 I ended up stopping taking pictures as I started icing up the cookies with my little sister Brittany and taking cookies in and out of the oven, but I'm happy with what I got and can't wait to share more later =].

Till next time,

Jess

Indie Trendie

Gosh what a beautiful day it has been so far. I had to rush to class, because the school's bus systems are still sucking major monkey butt right now, but it made the walk to class so much nicer, and I didn't have beads of sweat running down my back (isn't that the worst?!). I usually bike, but someone was kind enough to relieve me of my bike, and so now I walk everywhere (dripping sarcasm here as my bike was stolen). I am tired today though since I didn't sleep so well last night. I woke up at 3am from a nightmare, and don't mind admitting that I had to coax myself back to sleep with the lights on, haha! My mornings start at 8am, and that may be a nice time for some of you, but Jessica Shealy is NOT a morning person, and she'd rather her days start at 10am. As long as I have my coffee, it's not so bad I guess. I do absolutely love my classes though, and I am closer to graduation! I can almost smell the diploma (and stresses of finding a big girl job).

 Whenever I went home to South Carolina in July, my dad's mother (Memaw) gave me a lot of her mother's old hats and jewelry and night gowns and it was the greatest. You'll be seeing more and more of what I got as I make more posts, but the first thing I'm showing is this wonderful flower cap. If you have been on the internet, even for just a little bit, you know that flower crowns are huge, and so I couldn't wait to put on this bad boy. Ok, so actually trends like this usually bug me, but who doesn't want flowers in their hair? This outfit isn't all too special, and I've worn it so many times, but now with the flower crown it has been made new again! Ah! I love it. Let me frolic in a field. Sidebar: Last time I frolicked in a field, I got a terrible rash all over my body as I forgot I was allergic to grass. Who is allergic to grass?!!! This girl. 

 Well I've got to do some homework and get ready for my next class. It's so good to be posting again.

Till next time,

Jess

Guess Who's Back? Back Again?

Wow it has been a hot minute since I've posted on here. I have had quite the hectic and strange Summer, but I'm glad to say that I am back, things have calmed down and I've missed you all dearly. I have so much to catch you all up on, but I'll spread it out over a couple of posts. 

There have been so many changes that have been made, and I feel like I'm really going to try and step out of my comfort zone and be less inhibited. I'm looking at this year as if I have opened not a different chapter in my life, but a completely different book. I'm growing more and more into myself, but also reaching out to others, even complete strangers. I don't even know if this post makes sense, but basically I'm just trying to say that I'm moving forward with my life and bettering myself.

 I guess what really sparked all of this was making candidacy into my major (Phew, hallelulu, I was SO stressed over that. THANK heavens), and being newly single. It forced me to go out to hear live music by myself, and I ended up swished away in this whirlwind of new faces that soon became friends. Things are good right now. I'm even going swing dancing on Monday. I was so afraid of what this year was going to look like, but I'm so happy with how things are in just the first week of classes.

I think 2013 is going to finish out quite nicely.

Till next time,

Jess

The Hip Bone's Connected to the...

 How long has it been since I made a post? I've been dealing with personal demons the past month, and I just didn't have the motivation to make any posts. To be honest, it's been an ugly month for me as I've struggled with anxieties and big decisions. Instead of talking about it though, I'd rather just say I can't wait to read up on everyone's posts so your lovely faces can make my days brighter. 

 Do you ever put on outfits that are just totally not in your norm of what you usually wear? If you take a look at my blog, this outfit is DEFINITELY not what is in my comfort zone, but this absolutely amazing pin that the beautiful and talented Enid Twiglet made and gave me inspired me to be more edgy. I love it. It's a hip bone on my hip bone. Also, can I just continue to gush about how amazing Enid is, because she is so nice and lovely and sent me a few little trinkets that made me smile so big tears were in my eyes.

I'm honestly just so ready for school to start back up and everything to be in full swing again. This summer was weird and emotional and lonely for me, and I vow to never have a summer like it EVER AGAIN! Just kidding, bad times do happen it's the course of life and all that fluff *grumbles. At least today I feel like a rockstar. 

Thigh Highs:Walmart

Boots:Kohls

Top: Forever21

Shorts: Outreach Thrift

Brooch: c/o Enid Twiglet

Till next time,

Jess