Vegetarian Parents Don't Lie About What Meat Is

Post written by VegBlogger. Follow me on Twitter.

One of the main difference between vegetarian parents and omnivore ones is honesty
in providing information about what their kids are eating. Vegetarian parents tend to teach children the truth about what hamburger, ham or steak is. If they are like me, they even show them on a chart what part of the animal's body it came from.

It is rare to come across omnivore parents that are so honest and candid with their children about where their "food" is coming from. 

Ever hear a parent skew the information by saying it "came from a" chicken, cow, pig, etc.? And that is if they address the subject at all! Kind of like an egg comes from a chicken, but it's not a chicken itself. It sounds better for these parents to say that ham "comes from" a pig, rather than it is a pig (or a pig's butt, as we refer to it in our house).

This evening I came across one of these situations. A woman tried to hide my kids from the realities of animal suffering. Actually, the women was trying to keep them from making the connection. I saw an ad in my local paper for a feed store a couple of miles from my house. It said they had a bunch of baby chicks and ducks. While we have never been to the store, we decided to stop in just to give the kids a chance to see the baby chicks and ducks.

The women started showing them to my kids, who were extremely excited, and she
was announcing what each were. When she got to the end bin she looked at me and said these are the ones that you "E-A-T." She even took the time to whisper and spell it out to me, saying that she didn't want the kids to hear.

Why not? Obviously because the kids would be disgusted at the thought of someone wanting to eat the animals. Not just my kids, but just about all kids!

The kids visited with the animals for about 15 minutes and then we were on our way. I told my kids in the car about how people will buy and eat those animals and how when people say they are eating chicken, that's what they are eating. They all start out as those adorable baby chicks. (By the way, my daughter wanted to rescue them all and make beds for them right next to hers!)

Like so many other times, we used this one to help teach them about these little birds, even discussing how they are probably missing their mommy.

I believe if you have to lie to your child about what they are eating then there is a big problem with what you are serving them. Children should be taught the truth about what "meat" (and all their food) is and how it gets to their table. The only reason that parents would withold such information, lie or hide it, is because they know most children would find it revolting and not want to eat it. Which is a normal response, considering we are not born to be meat eating animals.

It's all about making the connection. It's just too bad that so many parents purposely go out of their way to block the transmission of it.

This is a short video of my delighted daughter holding one of the ones the lady said you "E-A-T." We were leaving, and she started crying, wanting to hold it "just one more time." We turned back and let her, as I filmed it.

 

Comments

[Bea Elliott]

I've heard many parents tell their children that "porkchops come from the porkchop tree"... And of course there's the McD's "hamburger patch". How true it is that if you need to lie about what the "food" is... perhaps it shouldn't be considered "food" at all!

Thank you for writing on this subject... And for raising such aware kids!

[Jacqueline]

Thanks, Bea! I know a child that was horrified when she found out "hamburger" was ground up cow. Her parent calmed her by saying it wasn't real cows, it was "special cows."

[Jordan Wyatt]

What a lovely article, I especially enjoyed the photos and video of Chickens!

I like sharing photos of my "Chicken Friends" too, here are the most recent photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaywontdart/sets/72157623431157138/

Have a splendid day :)

[Jacqueline]

Thanks, Jordan. Great pictures you have shared!