RAISING FAMILIES AND PETS TOGETHER...

 Do kids and pets mix? Most people take this question to mean whether or not kids are old enough to care for pets responsibly and handle them safely, or whether the pets can be trusted not to bite or scratch the children. Others, however, have noticed that the question nuzzles an age-old principle that could groom benefits for both families and the pets who live with them: Animals and people seem to be made for each other — and removing pets from the family mix may in fact be snipping children's normally empathetic heartstrings.

Historical ties between animals and humans living together as a unit are clear. "The fact that wolves stopped stalking us and we took them into our caves proved to be a miraculous leap of faith that changed our world forever," writes Meg Daley Olmert in her new book, Made for Each Other. Olmert draws on behavioral psychology, neuroscience and anthropology to examine how the human-animal bond developed in the first place, and then questions what might happen when those ties are unnaturally severed. The results look something like what psychiatrist Aaron Katcher calls "the fallout from this sudden interspecies divorce every day in children who are too wild to participate in polite society."

THE EARTH’S OLDEST ROCKS

All the major continents contain a core of very old rocks fringed by younger rocks. These cores, called Precambrian shields, are all that remain of the Earth’s oldest crust. The rocks in these shields are mostly metamorphic, meaning they have been changed from other rocks into their present form by great heat and pressure beneath the surface; most have been through more than one metamorphism and have had very complex histories. A metamorphic event may change the apparent radiometric age of a rock. Most commonly, the event causes partial or total loss of the radiogenic daughter isotope, resulting in a reduced age. Not all metamorphisms completely erase the radiometric record of a rock’s age, although many do. Thus, the radiometric ages obtained from these oldest rocks are not necessarily the age of the first event in the history of the rock. Moreover, many of the oldest dated rocks intrude still older but undatable rocks. In all cases, the measured ages provide only a minimum age for the Earth.

So far, rocks older than 3.0 billion years have been found in North America, India, Russia, Greenland, Australia, and Africa. The oldest rocks in North America, found in Minnesota, give a U-Pb discordia age of 3.56 billion years. The oldest rocks yet found on the Earth are in Greenland, South Africa, and India. The Greenland samples have been especially well studied. The Amitsoq Gneisses in western Greenland, for example, have been dated by five different methods within the analytical uncertainties, the ages are the same and indicate that these rocks are about 3.7 billion years old.

PERFECT PET FOR CHILDREN...

Dogs are Great Pets for Children - Cia de FotoFinding a first pet for a child takes more than a visit to a pet store or animal shelter. Parents need to think about the age and maturity of a child before helping them select a first pet. Is the child ready to handle animal care chores like feeding a pet, cleaning up after it or providing exercise? Some small pets, like guinea pigs, birds and fish only need a nice corner of the house for their cage and some loving care, while dog and cats need more upkeep and attention.

Pet Dogs are a Good Choice for Children
Dogs, forever known as man’s best friend, are active companions and willing playmates for children, but require almost as much care as another child! Before bringing a dog into family, parents should consider the family’s schedule, yard space, and whether they are ready to pick up the slack should a child lose interest—or become too busy—to handle primary pet care duties. Some aspects of puppy care simply can’t be handled by a small child, such as house training and obedience class. Parents should be ready to train the dog, then teach the child how to handle the dog.