Some people think that keeping pets is good for children while others think it is dangerous and unhealthy for them. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion?
Sample Response
Some individuals support keeping pets foraround young children as they think doing so is beneficialit is beneficial while others oppose the idea citing pet-related injuries and recent fatalitiesfatalities in recent times. In this essay, I shall discuss both these views and argue that the dangers of young children having petsdangers that stem from young children having pets are overemphasised, sometimes even exaggerated, and children receive substantive psychological benefits from having pets.
Those who believe that keeping pets could be unhealthyunhealthful and hazardous for children say that many pets are wild in nature and can hurt children. So, they believe that such pets could endanger childrencould be a physical danger to children. For instance, allowing a child to play with a raccoon, snake, fox or bobcat could be dangerous as those pets are wild and often behave unpredictably. Moreover, friendly cats and dogs can be infected with viruses and can spread dangerous diseases to children. So this group of people recommend not allowing young children to keep petsrecommend not allowing pets to young children considering their health and safety.
On the contrary, others who support allowing young children to keep petsallowing pets to young children say that it has favourable effects on children's psychology and growth. Young pet owners frequently empathise with their pets and perform a diverse range of activities to maintain their well-being. The Cambridge Developmental Psychology Unit found that children who had grown up with pets were 30% less likely to bully others and show aggression. Pets are also conducive to young children's mental growth, and they get involved in interesting activities with their pets that help them develop a deeper sense of empathyrealise empathy more deeply. So, my opinion on that matter is that a child’s prosociality and mental health can be improved through exposure to pets.
In conclusion, letting young children possess and interact with friendly pets has important benefits. It is not a threat to children, but rather beneficial for nurturingbeneficial to nurture some important good qualities in them. So, it is expected that parents who wish to have pets for their children would consider those benefits and finally select one of the friendly pets for their children.
Why this response received Band 7.5
The response presents a clear, consistent position and develops both perspectives through relevant explanations and examples, with particularly effective discussion of children’s psychological growth. Its main limitation is that the risk argument relies heavily on unusual wild-animal examples and the conclusion overstates safety rather than preserving the earlier nuance. Strengthen the less-favoured view with more representative evidence and qualify the final judgement.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
Both views are addressed and the writer’s position is clear throughout, with relevant development on risks and psychological benefits.
Develop the opposing view with more typical household-pet risks and retain a qualified position in the conclusion.
Coherence and Cohesion
The essay progresses logically through a clear four-paragraph structure, and ideas within paragraphs are easy to follow.
Use a wider range of less conspicuous transitions instead of repeatedly opening or closing points with simple connectors such as ‘So’.
Lexical Resource
A wide and generally precise vocabulary supports nuanced discussion, although a few combinations such as ‘realise empathy’ sound unnatural.
Refine collocations for psychological development and pet ownership so that sophisticated vocabulary remains consistently natural.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A varied range of complex structures is handled with strong control, and the few grammatical slips do not impede meaning.
Check pronoun reference, agreement and clause structure in longer sentences to remove the remaining local inaccuracies.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people think that keeping pets is good for children while others think it is dangerous and unhealthy for them. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.