my 3 year old is refusing all meat and fish because she has worked out they are animals and says its cruel

[princessdaisyboo]

my dd has recently started questioning what meat is and were it comes from, she says its cruel to eat lambs and chickens and says she does not want to eat any meat anymore, what do i do?? I have tried to just say its meat but she has sussed it out!
Do i keep giving it to her till she grows out of it or stop serving it to her? She is quite fussy and eats very little carbohydrates, she likes quite a few veg and she does like eggs but by cutting meat out her diet is going to be quite restricted?? Anyone else had similar experience and how did you manage it

3? Gosh. Dd1 became concerned about this when she was about 6. I told her she didn't have to have meat if she didn't want to. She said she really liked chicken and sausages. So I said she might as well carry on having the meats she liked with the rest of the family and she could think about that again when she was older.

She is now 12. There are certain types of meat she still does not eat but it doesn't really trouble me too much.

Are there any types of meat she will still eat? How much would it trouble you to make vegetarian meals for your dd? I think a vegetarian diet in itself would be fine.

I'd be patting her on the back for having a well-developed sense of personal morality so young and buying a stock of Quorn to put in the freezer if I were in your position.

But mine are utter meatheads and will only eat things that are dead pretty much.

That's ok, wilf. As long as they don't eat things that are alive.

Tell her if God didn't want us to be carnivores he wouldn't have made animals out of meat (copyright Dara O'Briain I think)

well, she's right!
just don't let her find out about how most animals are farmed or you'll never stand a chance of getting her to eat meat.
She can eat a perfectly healthy diet without meat (I have a huge 20 yr old ds as proof)
So, it's not convenient for you....you have to decide what's important, her views or your convenience....cos health doesn't come into it.
My guess is, if you let her choose what to eat and she has liked meat so far, she will probably go back to eating meat of her own accord if you don't make an issue of it though.

Make sure she has plenty of protein from other sources (beans, lentils, oats, dairy/ soy, tofu, eggs, Quorn etc) and leave her be.

If you google, you can find lots of info on feeding vegetarian children.

thanks for lots of tips. it would not bother me at all if she continued to refuse meat id totally respect her wishes and provide veggie meals for her no problem she just shocks me sometimes with how independant and adament she is on some things, saying that when i asked her what she wanted for tea tonight she said chicken and mash and broccoli, so this i made and she did eat everything but paused to ask me if it was a good chicken or a bad chicken!! Im sure its a phase but i do agree with what she says so maybe we will both turn vegetarian together!

my dd has also just worked this out (at very nearly 3) but doesn't seem to have the same scruples as your daughter! i told her and she just said, in a very grownup voice 'oh. I see.' looked thoughtful then carried on eating her burger

Personally, if she had reacted differently i would have thought 'fair enough' and respected her choice. At this age they're bound to grow out of it, best to wait it out rather than fighting it.

Replace lost protein with eggs, tofu, beans and dairy products.

Replace lost iron with leafy green veg i.e spinach etc and make sure she gets more juice etc for vitamin c to help with apsorption

I tell my children they are 'special' animals just for eating . DD has always accepted that. Ds couldn't care less .

My dd is showing signs of wanting to be vegetarian and I will happily accommodate her now she's getting older (10).

My mum used to lie to me about what I was eating. When I was old enough to realise I was less than impressed.

I learnt to cook for myself at 12 when I turned totally veggie and my mum refused to make special meals for me. (She was of the meat and two veg school of thinking). She now lives with me, eats what I cook very little meat and doesn't miss it at all.

You could try offering veggie alternatives to what you are having (Quorn sausages / mince etc).

We don't eat much meat as I was veggie up unitl a couple of years ago - but I only buy Free Range / Red Tractor / Freedom Food meat. You could explain to your dd that most animals are brought up in a lovely home and it is those you are eating not the ones who live in a horrible home. She may well have heard something on the TV / radio about free range meat and picked up on it.

Whether or not the meat you give her is free range is up to you

You could try a farm visit to show that it isn't cruel.

My sister stopped eating meat when she was 2 because she didn't like the taste. Now a healthly 30+ and still veggie.

i would say, do not force her to eat meat, stop serving it for a while, but continue to offer.

She may or may not get bac into eating it, but it is no big deal. You will get used to having a veggie in the house. we are a real mixture in ours of certain meats only, or no meat, and i jut go with the flow. It really is not too much aggro once you settle into it.