To tell this child where burgers come from?

[Ifyourawizardwhydouwearglasses]

Yesterday we had one of DCs friends (5) round. Went outside and she wanted to see the cows (we live on a farm). She said to me 'these cows all make milk' and I said, 'no, female cows make milk. These are all male and these will make steaks and burgers.'

She looked utterly horrified but it had never occurred to me that a child of 5 would not know where meat came from. The mother was a but sniffy via text later that evening and said that dd was upset but would come around in time.

I think it's frankly ridiculous that she got to 5 without being told this.

WIBU?

Ps, the mother said I should have just lied to spare her feelings. But it was just another bit of info in my eyes, such as 'the sky is blue' or 'bears shit in the woods'

Of course you were not unreasonable!!!

It wouldn't occur to me either that a five year old might not know where meat comes from. YANBU.

My DS is 4 and wouldn't have a clue. It's just never come up in conversation.

Might know about chickens though. Again, I've never said the chicken we eat is a bird really, as it had never occurred to me to do so.

I wouldn't be annoyed if someone told him though.

YANBU but so may people are precious about this. My DH is a vegetarian and our DC know rather too much about animal rights in my opinon...they still eat meat though! Their choice.

Just today DD aged 7 and I admired some chickens in a garden on the way to school....their owner called them "ladies" and DD thought they were lovely. Then she said "We eat chickens just like that! I love roast chicken"

She wasn't bothered!

YANBU!!! Once DD wouldn't sleep at DP was out (Spd so I can't carry her back upstairs dozens of times), they were prepping a guinea fowl on masterchef so we had a little chat about what they were doing and that some people eat birds. IMO too few people know enough about where their food comes from, they need to respect that meat comes from an animal that requires care and resources.

yanbu

kids need to know you seemed to tell the child in a nice way so i wouldnt be upset with you my daughter got told at age three by her uncle he put a lot of blood and screaming piggies into the explanation she turned vegetarian for a little while (a few days to be honest she hated veg at the time) i was irritated with him and her nan for allowing him to do it!

by age five i had eaten everything including tripe and had no illusions where my food came from

Plenty of older DCs dont have a clue where there food comes from.

How would they when it all comes in breadcrumbs?

What he'll ask eventually "What's a pork chop made of?" and you;ll have to say "Pig!"

Mine like talking about it all....and looking at the dead fish in the fishmongers!

FFS! No you weren't being unreasonable. How were you supposed to know she was raising her children in a rose tinted paradise where burgers grow on trees?

It took me over 20 years to eat lamb after being told by someone (whilst I was petting a lamb, aged 5) that we were having lamb for lunch an hour later .

Tbh I wouldn't have said about mince and steak, I think that's possibly a little too detailed - I'd have left it at 'not these ones, they're male, only female cows make milk' and if pushed, I might have said male ones are for beef, or something.

Basically I'd have fudged it and let the parents explain.

YADNBU. We live in the middle of a city and remember telling ds from a very young age about lambs, chickens, cows etc as we passed them in fields on holiday. I agree. It's just one of those life facts!

jacie oh yes! I had a child for a playdate who didn't know what chicken stir fry was like...she poked the meat and asked what it was! I explained it was chicken and she said she'd only eaten in in the form of breaded nuggets and burgers! She ate all the stir fry though and loved it after getting over her suspicion! Another child was astounded that I made a pie bless him. I'm not judging people in a bad way...some people have just not been taught to cook.

Phew! Bit worried about what the responses would be there, but it seems that the world is still sane after all

I remember my children eating venison and laughing about 'Bambi burgers' - clearly I'd be unpopular with her too.

Yanbu. I don't call it beef or pork for this reason, it's cow and pig. If the DC see meat on pictures and ask what it is (which they have done in the past) then I say "it's a dead cow that some people choose to eat." Because that's what it is, why dress it up as anything else? They can handle it, they just think some people are fucking weird as do I . And yes we're veggies in case that wasn't overly obvious.

My parents never told me what meat was and because I was offered it with practically every meal from a really young age it was just food like vegetables or anything else, I never really thought to question it. It was only when I was about ten or eleven and my best friend at the time got seriously into animal rights and turned vegetarian that I found out what meat actually was. I appreciate that sounds ridiculous but I just never clicked that this 'beef, burger, bacon, tuna' etc was a dead animal. I turned veggie very soon after and never looked back.

I did raise an eyebrow when I first took DS1 to the LA run petting farm (is that what they're called) and there were posters in the pig shed about when the piglets were removed from mum and at what stage they got turned into bacon, but decided it was a good thing to tell them the truth really.

I had a child at school tell me that fish and chicken are the same thing "obviously not the animals but the kind you eat is the same, with breadcrumbs"

YANBU, I really can't imagine a child getting to five and not knowing where meat comes from.

Mine knew from an early age: we live in London, but it still came up in conversation. Dd2 asked me, age 4, "What animal do you have to kill to get Cheerios?"!

OP, why do you call them cows if they're all male?

Can anyone remember the thread about the Mum who was furious with her ex for telling her dd that fish fingers were made of fish?

Surprised at these responses, I thought you might get a few yabu's. Dd1Dd1(3) knows where meat comes from in an age appropriate way. We say we are having Susie Sheep, peppa pig ect so she knows what animals shes eating but not necessarily how the meat comes about iyswim?

I realised at about that age my DS didn't know when I said something about chicken and he said "Oh I thought you meant the chicken you eat not the animal " . I hadn't actually discussed it however as I called pork , porkie pig and other examples I was surprised he didn't know.

We do now play a game where I tell him peices of meat or sausages and he has to tell me what animal it came from.

However the idea you should of lied about it is bizarre. Does her child not eat well as that can be the only reason I can even imagine it would be an issue .

She's ridiculous. DS has known from the word go what meat is - I talk to him about it, why wouldn't I? He likes to check though - 'is this chicken dead? Yes? Oh good' and tucks in... Strange child.