Lemmikloomad lapse elus

Abstract

The purpose of my bachelor's thesis is to provide an overview of the meanings of owning a pet in children's lives. A similar topic has previously been studied, for example, by Anneli Djakiv, who in 2018 studied family networks from a child's point of view, and Maiken Punt's 2016 bachelor's thesis, which studied the experiences of third and fourth grade students in relation to owning a pet. My bachelor's thesis combines both focuses, exploring the role of pets in children's lives. I developed the following research questions: 1) Who are important characters for the child? 2) What does the child say about having or not having a pet? 3) What does a child's daily life with a pet look like? 4) What role does a pet play in a child's life? I conducted nine qualitative in-person interviews with 12-13 years old children in one town in Estonia and used conventional thematic content analysis method to analyse the interviews. The analysis revealed that children defined pets as important characters for them. They see their pet mainly as a family member, a friend, and a source of responsibility. Having a pet teaches children dutifulness and responsibility. They like that a pet is a reliable friend and children can talk to them. The children also liked petting, hugging, and cuddling the animal and enjoyed taking care of them. Most of the interviewed children owned either a cat or a dog, but one had a guinea pig, and another had a Silkie.