Once upon a time, a cat or a dog were our best childhood companions, and we took them everywhere we went. Reporters have found that children's preferences have changed significantly. Animals that were once feared, such as lizards and snakes, are now favored by teenagers and are being taken home as pets. Psychology experts from Beijing Normal University suggest that parents should pay attention to the psychological needs behind teenagers' love of unusual pets—a pursuit of novelty and excitement, and a lack of family interaction—and guide them appropriately in their understanding of the animal world.
Mr. Liu is the parent of a fifth-grade student at a primary school in Haidian District. These past few days, his child has been causing him a lot of headaches. "Every day when he comes home, he tells me about the snakes and lizards his classmates keep, and he insists on keeping one too," Mr. Liu told reporters. He added that while he isn't afraid of these cold-blooded animals, he finds it somewhat incomprehensible. "Keeping a dog or cat is normal; we kept them when we were kids, and it helps cultivate a sense of compassion. But how do you communicate with cold-blooded animals? What benefit does it provide for a child's development?" However, his child complains that keeping cats and dogs is "boring."
Unable to resist his child's nagging, Mr. Liu recently invited a reporter to the Guanyuan Flower and Bird Market, located at the northeast corner of Zizhuyuan Bridge. This market has many shops selling novel pets such as insects, reptiles, and amphibians. In one shop, the reporter saw various lizards and small snakes crawling and swimming in glass tanks. The shop, less than 10 square meters, was crammed with eight customers. Among them, a couple with their child were discussing how to choose a "relatively docile" snake. The mother looked both nervous and helpless, while the little girl, wearing a windbreaker, was excited, constantly asking how to keep the snake and what it eats…
After finishing her business, the shop owner told reporters that the business of selling new types of pets has been getting better and better in recent years. "The youngest I've seen is a preschooler, brought by his parents to buy snakes." She said that corn snakes are the most popular among teenagers, costing about 600 yuan each. They are relatively easy to keep and "don't look too scary." Keeping corn snakes only requires feeding them a small hamster each week. The glass tank just needs to be near a heater in winter, unlike lizards, which require various lamps to simulate natural light. One parent lamented that they spend over a thousand yuan a year just on food and lamps to "help" their child keep a lizard.
Regarding this phenomenon of teenagers' enthusiasm for new types of pets, a teacher from the Department of Psychology at Beijing Normal University told reporters that they have received many requests for help from "colleagues' parents." Through communication with their children, they found that behind this enthusiasm for new pets often lies a psychological need for children to seek novelty and excitement, and a lack of communication with their families. "They have considerable academic pressure at school, don't communicate much with their parents at home, and lack understanding of nature, so they are interested in all sorts of strange creatures." Experts told reporters that parents need to guide their children's interests reasonably. If they truly have a strong interest in animals and are willing to study them, parents can encourage and support them; if it's just because they feel lonely and seek excitement, parents should communicate more with their children in daily life and divert their attention.
