
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Household pets may boost body's defense systems.
Fido and Spot could be helping parents raise healthier children.
A new study finds that children who lived with dogs or cats during their first year of life got sick less often than kids from pet-free zones. The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, provides fresh evidence for the counterintuitive notion that an overly clean environment may not be ideal for babies.
Sharing a home with a pet may be an early form of cross-training for the body's defense systems. Previous research has shown that owning a cat or dog was associated with less risk of gastroenteritis in young children.
Studies also suggest that the dirt — and microbes — brought indoors by pets could bolster the communities of helpful bacteria, yeast and other microscopic creatures that live in a developing child's body.
Read more from Los Angeles Times.
Kids can learn how to program robots, play chess, speak Chinese or dance hip-hop style, among other enrichment options.