If you thought that explaining pet insurance to your kids was going to be tough, think again because I’ve got you sorted with a jargon-free, kid-friendly explanation!

There is nothing more beautiful than the natural inquisitive nature of children. They are always looking to learn new things, ask questions and explore the world. Which, now that I think about it, is something we lose as we get older…But I digress. The point Is that if you have pets and you are looking to get them insured, your children will most likely want to know what pet insurance is.

They’ll hear you bring it up at the dinner table when your pets are due for their next annual exam, they’ll hear about it when you’re on the phone with your insurer and they’ll definitely hear it at the vet. Now, instead of telling them that it’s “too complicated for children to understand” it’s time that you forget about the jargon-heavy definition you have in your head.

It’s a lot simpler than you think

Insurance has this notorious reputation for being incredibly difficult to understand. The reason behind it is the fact that it’s all a lot of legal terminology that is specifically used in this industry. Now, let the record show that the intention is not to have you scratching your head or signing for something you do not understand. The reality is that even if this agreement is for your pet, it is still a legally binding contract, which means getting used to a few new insurance terms.

That being said, there is a simple way to look at pet insurance and I plan to help you out here. So, whether your kid keeps asking about how you protect your pet or you’re simply in need of a little refresher, I’ve got you covered.

Explaining pet insurance to kids (or yourself)

When explaining pet insurance it’s important that you look at it from a few perspectives. All of which is pretty simplistic, so no one’s going to get lost or left behind in my explanation. I will be keeping this blog in a first-person narrative so that you can basically regurgitate this exact script to keep things simple and easy to understand.

When two people like animals

When our family and another family (insert insurance company’s name here) really love our animals, we talk to each other. We all talk about how we want to keep all of our animals nice and safe. So, we give them a small amount of money and they keep our fur babies safe.

This means that whenever (insert pet(s) name’s here) gets sick, we call the other family to help us make them better. They do a whole bunch of things to keep them happy too!

What kind of stuff do they do?

Do you know when we go to the doctor with all of the pets? And then they get lots of love from the doctor and medicine? Well, the other family helps us go and see the doctor. They make sure that all of their teeth are nice and shiny, like when you brush your teeth before you go to bed.

They also make sure that they get lots of exercise, and attention whenever they have an ouchie – like when we do it for you. The other family is there to help make all of the bad stuff go away for our animals! They also make sure that all of the parents take good care of the pets too by reminding us whenever our fur babies need to go to the doctor!

Why do we need to explain it to children?

This may be a simplistic version of pet insurance, but it still touches on all of the important elements associated with a comprehensive pet policy. It is crucial that we remember that 5-year-olds retain a lot of information. It’s important that we instil the need for pet insurance in them at a young age. We want to raise future responsible pet parents and the best way to do that is to enforce iit on them at a young age.

But pet insurance extends beyond just benefits for an animal.

It will also teach your child the importance of health and wellness. It is crucial that they understand that taking care of your well-being is an important part of life, for both humans and animals. Taking out coverage that will keep you safe and healthy is an absolute essential.

So, don’t shy away from having important more mature conversations with your kids when it comes to introducing wellness routines in your home. They will thank you for it later in life when they can replicate the same practices in their own homes one day.

Remember that once insurance becomes a norm in your house, it will become a norm in their lives!

Until next time,

The Pet Insurance Team