Believe it or not, kids instinctively know more about the animal kingdom than their parents or elders. (DC)

Believe it or not, kids instinctively know more about the animal kingdom than their parents or elders. And that is precisely the reason why a growing tribe of urban parents are taking their kids on weekends to pet farms, animal shelters and bird sanctuaries instead of glitzy air-conditioned malls and artificial kids’ zones.

The children get to run outdoors, touch furry friends and learn about nature and animals. “My son (Rana) was so happy with the ducks, lovebirds, turtles and rabbits. He spent time petting them, but he got scared looking at the horse,” chuckles Dr. Karishma Singh, dermatologist, The Skin Firm, Pune.

Many parents are taking their toddlers to pet farms, nature trails and outdoor picnics to break free from mundane mall culture. The Japalouppe Equestrian Centre and other petting farms have become a natural play zone for kids.

Chores first, fun later

The day at Beejom Farm in UP, ends at 6pm, because that is the animals’ bedtime. “By then the visiting children look messy as they should at this age,” says lawyer Aparna Rajagopal. She and her husband adopted a rescue horse in 2014 and went looking for somewhere to keep it. Today, the farm houses more than 300 animals, most of them rescued.

Tiny Tots At Work

The children clean sheds and stalls, keep water and fodder fresh, graze the sheep, mind the geese when they go out to roam, and gather natural food for the rabbits. In winter they can help make warm beds from sacks and hay. Other times of year there is the farrier shoeing a horse, sheep being sheared, or a batch of bhoos and gud ka laddoos made as animal treats. Some children have turned up on the day an animal was born. Others have watched one being treated when it was very ill. Rajagopal says, “Medical care is great to watch and very educational.”

Most of the animals love children, she says, and know guests well. “Children who are scared of animals when they walk in become so much more at ease by the end of their visit.” Parents keep coming back. “We find people are tired of malls,” she says.

No Timetable & Pool

Many kids treat the pet farms as a second home. They run from the car to say hello to their best animal friend. Fagunia’s co-founders Aditi Pokhriyal and Anil Cherukupalli went the other way. There are no games rooms, swimming pools or organised children’s activities. They worried children might be bored. Mostly they were not. A spider weaving a web can hold a child for a good while. One guest’s daughter wanted screen time on her first day. By the second she was pointing out all the different birds. Another girl went on a forest hike and got stuck into counting tree rings to guess a tree’s age.

Nature’s Impact

Sometimes, boredom is good as it can spark imagination. Child psychologist Tashi Dolkar Sherpa says empathy, can be taught in other ways. Nobody tells the child to be gentle. They have to watch.

She gives the animal part of the credit, not all of it. Being outdoors changes things too. “A screen responds when you touch it. An animal might walk away, become scared, ignore you or approach you when it feels safe.”

She also warns about parents who turn it into a photo-op. Constant cries of “Look how kind you are!” or requests to pet an animal for a picture teach a child what earns approval.

Sharing & Caring

Dr Ritu Shree, a psychologist and dance movement therapist, spends the summer months in Spiti Valley with her toddler and lives in Delhi for the rest of the year. Her son knows cows, yaks, donkeys and the feral dogs around their home. She thinks parents set the tone. “If as a parent, I am scared of dogs my child will sense.” Her son shares his food with the dogs and donkeys. “I never taught him that,” she says.

Her view is that children need “engagement, not entertainment.” She and her partner have never seen their son bored. In Delhi, she says, children rush between school and recreational classes, cannot run free on the roads and are surrounded by plastic toys.

There is no one easy answer on how to raise kids who are happy but if furry friends help bring some paw-sitive effect in life then why not.

Children who are scared of animals when they walk in become so much more at ease by the end of their visit.”

— Aparna Rajagopal, founder Beejom Farm

A screen responds when you touch it. An animal might walk away, become scared, ignore you or approach you when it feels safe.”

— Tashi Dolkar Sherpa, Child psychologist

Tags: