If you don’t already have a family pet, there may be a new reason to say “yes” when your child looks at you with begging eyes and asks “mommy can we keep him?”

While questions like these are generally dreaded by parents who are afraid that adding a pet to the family may cause health problems, a new study shows that having a pet early on can actually decrease the risk of children developing allergies.

A recent study from the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, which was published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, reaffirmed the fact that pets can be good for a child’s health. Researchers studied the patterns of those who reported having allergies, most of whom reported their allergies began during their adolescence. (more…)