Children bond more with their pets than siblings.

A new research has shown that children bond more with their pets than siblings.Children get more satisfaction from relationships with their pets than with their brothers or sisters and appear to get on even better with their animal companions than with siblings. The study published in the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology shows that household pets may have a major influence on child development, and could have a positive impact on children's social skills and emotional well-being. The research was carried out by a survey involving 12 year old children from 77 families with one or more pets of any type and more than one child at home. Children reported strong relationships with their pets relative to their siblings, with lower levels of conflict and greater satisfaction in owners of dogs than other kinds of pets. The researchers found out that the fact that pets may not fully understand or respond verbally, the level of disclosure to pets was no less than to siblings and the fact that pets cannot understand or talk back may even be a benefit as it means they are completely non-judgmental.