To not tell DD

[Flippetydip]

DD is 6, nearly 7. She's been vegetarian since August and has been absolutely adamant about it, brilliant with what she eats and shows no sign of relenting. I'm all for this and have also pretty much gone veggie. DH and DS have not, therefore there is meat stuff in the fridge.

Fridays are our night when we rush from a to b and back again without time to turn round. I WFH so try and fit that in amidst everything else. This is me preparing my excuse for being such a fuckwit. I did oven chips and what I thought were fish fingers for DD tonight before she went out to Beavers (this is not an AIBU about crap parenting and crap food, it's Friday, we're busy, they eat well the rest of the time!) All good, I had one, thought weird consistency but nothing more of it. Got them out to put in for DS later and realised they were chicken fingers. We have never had these in the freezer before, I can only assume DH bought them as part of a Co-op meal deal or some such thing.

AIBU not to tell DD? I don't think it will do either of us any good.

Some of the comments on here are so funny. Love the 'mostly vegetarian except when eating chicken/fish' type of comments

I'm actually teatotal except for when I drink wine!

She eats fish? That’s not vegetarian. Why are you asking about feeding her chicken if she’s ok with fish?

Teetotal (bloody autocorrect).

No point in telling her now. All it would do is cause her upset unnecessarily.
Might it be worth mentioning to your daughter the importance of cutting out all animals, not just the land ones? I became a 'vegatarian' when I was a similar age and also believed that fish didn't count. I really wish my parents had enlightened me sooner on how eating fish can be even worse for the environment than other meat, and how they feel just as much pain as other animals do. She obviously seems to be under the impression this isn't the case, so I'd feel obliged to tell her the truth

She eats fish? That’s not vegetarian. Why are you asking about feeding her chicken if she’s ok with fish?

Isn’t it obvious that the op just used the wrong term? Plenty of people eat fish but no other meat.

Eggs are not cabbages either. Go to the supermarket: meat counter, fish counter. Not meat counter, other meat counter.

Language evolves in a society as a whole. I think if vegetarians are frequently finding themselves misunderstood to eat fish, it may be that the usage that was common in the 80s that vegetarian could include eating fish is in fact still common. In which case why wouldn't you use an extra word or two to make your meaning clear and save yourself trouble.

The term pescatarian was not even invented till the 90s and isn't commonly adopted in my experience. Maybe it depends where you live. I've met many people who introduce themselves as vegetarians, and maybe half of those ate fish. Not one person who introduced themselves as a pescatarian. I live in the south of England, not the back of beyond or anything. And work in a professional, pretty much universally university educated environment. Not being brought up in the same language environment as you does not equate to dim.

She's six. Ignore it. V gro Tatiana don't eat fish anyway.

Wow don't quite know what happened here! Vegetarians

I've heard "vegetarians" who eat fish described as "fish and chypocrites."

You couldn't apply that to a child though.

For all "vegetarians" who eat fish you are not vegetarian. A fish is not a vegetable. All the vegetarians I know get really annoyed by this nonsense.

Eggs are not cabbages either

So? The critical thing is that eggs are not, and have never been, alive, so can form part of a vegetarian diet.

Whether fish is classed as “meat” or “fish” is irrelevant. Fish are living creatures. Vegetarians don’t eat animals.

God what a bunch of arseholes with the smug fish comments

They're not smug fish comments. They are educational fish comments. I've come across lots of people who think a vegetarian
will eat fish. Vegetarians don't eat fish. Some people don't know that and it's fairly important to point it out to them.

I went to dinner with in-laws last week, offered to bring my own little protein package (nut roast), and they said no, they'd cater for me. It was salmon. Salmon for everybody, so that I didn't feel like the odd one out.

But vegetarians don't eat salmon. Who knew? Not them. But they do now.

"Oh" , said cuz-in-law. "That complicates things" and "Well what 'will' you eat then?" Obviously irritated.

Me: "Anything that's not meat"
She "There's only the boiled veg"
Me: "That's fine"
She: "I'll grate some cheddar on it to give it some taste"
Me: "Thank you. Lovely"

I'm actually vegan but had gone out of my way beforehand to try and take a nut roast. And also compromised myself regarding the possibility of there being something like egg or milk in sauce, or milk in tea. I would have sucked that up. I don't want to make any fuss.
It can be difficult for a vegan to be invited for dinner. There are a lot of vegans who would just keep schtum and drink the cow's milk for the sake of not appearing to be a fusspot.

But something as bleedin' obvious as serving fish to a vegetarian has to be addressed. Fish is definitely meat. Nothing smug about it.

I used to have a ‘vegetarian’ friend at school who ate chicken, and occasionally turned up with scotch eggs and cocktail sausages in her packed lunch.

Now that is annoying.

If she is willing to eat a dead fish, then it's far from the end of the world that she has accidentally eaten a dead chicken... it's not as if her eating habits relate to a dislike of killing animals, unless she thinks fish somehow deserve it.

What part of fish is vegetable? !
Of course don't tell her. And throw the weird chopped chicken fingers in the bin.

JillyJellybean Vegans eat cheese?

A fish is not a vegetable. An egg is not a vegetable. Clearly vegetarians do not just eat vegetables, so "a fish is not a vegetable" is not a logically helpful argument.

What I'm seeing in this thread is that clearly there is still a considerable body of usage that vegetarian means "doesn't eat meat" and fish isn't meat. If there wasn't, vegetarians wouldn't all be grumbling about being misunderstood and fed fish all the time.

The way human language works is that words mean what the general consensus is that they mean, not always what the authorities declare them to mean. There doesn't seem to be enough of a consensus on this one. So given that language is still commonly used that way, vegetarians have a choice between clarifying and getting what you actually want, or sticking with your "correct" terminology and not always getting what you want. But hey, at least you get to have a good jeer about how dim people are. I'd prefer a dinner I can eat myself.

She must have thought she was eating meat anyways if you both thought they were fish fingers. She is obviously not that bothered.

it's not as if her eating habits relate to a dislike of killing animals, unless she thinks fish somehow deserve it.

Well, fish are notoriously bastards.

Only on MN have I ever come across this obsession with making sure everyone knows fish is not a vegetable. Not really what the OP was asking, is it
The OP was asking if she should tell her dd that she accidentally gave her some meat for her tea, instead of. . . . .some meat for her tea. I think that's the issue. The fish is just as much meat as the chicken.

So "I accidentally gave you chicken and not fish for your tea"
seems pretty pointless in these circumstances.

it's not as if her eating habits relate to a dislike of killing animals, unless she thinks fish somehow deserve it.

As a little girl, my cousin was a proud vegetarian.

Except for chicken. Eating chicken was dandy cos chicken are “ugly”.

I have heard plants scream too

I have heard plants scream too

Usually only when being soothed by the dulcet tones of Pwince Charles.

Haha butchy

YABU for allowing your 6yr old to be a vegetarian