Having a family pet makes childhood infinitely more memorable and helps cultivate a love of animals that can carry forward into adulthood. Caring for a pet can also teach your kids about responsibility, a characteristic that will serve them well when they inevitably grow up and enter the "real world." However, as a parent, it’s up to you to strike a careful balance between allowing your children to learn responsibility and making sure that family pets get the care they deserve.

Start Small
If you’re sick and tired of reminding your kids to do their chores and nagging them to get their homework done, you might be looking for ways to cultivate a sense of responsibility in your children. Giving kids the responsibility of caring for a pet is one way to teach responsibility, but it’s important that you start small, more for your and the pet’s sake than for your child’s. For example, buying your eight-year-old child a brand new puppy in need of training and expecting him to care for it all on his own is aiming way too high. One way to ease your kids into the responsibility of caring for animals is by starting with an easy-to-care-for pet like a goldfish and working your way up to something that requires more care, like a dog or cat. If your child really wants a dog, make him prove that he can be responsible with a less demanding pet first.

If you already have a family pet, you might start by assigning your child a few small tasks in caring for that animal, rather than buying them a new pet to care for all on their own. For example, even a fairly young child could be in charge of daily feeding or grooming, as long as you supervise to ensure it gets done.

Get Organized
Let’s face it: kids are forgetful. And sometimes your brain might not be much better--remember when you couldn’t find your sunglasses and they were on your head? Make pet care easier on the whole family by devising a chart for who does what, and when. It doesn’t have to be fancy or pretty; just make sure that it’s clear what each member of the family should be doing each day, week, or month to care for the family pet or pets. This way, your children can refer to the chart when they need to and can never use the excuse that they "can’t remember" what their pet care chores are. A chart that is marked daily is also helpful to you as a parent, because you don’t have to rely on your memory to know whether Fido or Fluffy got fed.

Establish A Routine
Creating a chart for your kids to check daily is part of establishing a routine, but it doesn’t have to stop there. Doing tasks at the same time each day, such as feeding the dog before breakfast, walking him after school, or cleaning the cat box before dinner, helps your children get in the habit of doing their chores.

Create consequences
One of the most important parts of teaching responsibility is creating--and following through with--consequences. Rather than let your kids park themselves in front of the TV when they get home, make them earn rewards like TV and video game time by doing their chores. Following through with consequences lets your kids know that pet care comes before playtime.