If another child told yours about meat and the meat industry

[SkyWalker95]

I saw a post on FB today of a mother having a full blown melt down over the fact another child had explained to their 5 year olds that the cows they see in the field are killed, drained, and butchered, and thats what was in his sandwich. Therefore her child no longer wanted to eat it. She was talking like it was such an outrageous thing to tell him and that somehow the other kids was wrong to tell him. And shockingly all the comments where in agreement with her. This can't be a normal reaction surely?

Threads like this always bring out the pseudo science which apparently proves I'm not healthy and muscular as a vegetarian

I was brought up vegetarian and when my parents thought I was old enough to choose whether to continue, they explained how the animals were treated and killed. I asked why people couldn't just live on other foods and I was told that they could, so I never thought about eating meat again.

If they hadn't explained it to me early enough I probably would have tried meat from another child because I wouldn't have known where it came from. At least now this child knows the score.

What parent hasn't already told their 5 year old where meat comes from? Or am I misunderstanding?

My kids get all the details about dead animals/meat. They are 5 and 6yo. So far I don't think they've alienated their classmates, but give them time....

SkyWalker95 He really won't eat enough vegetable-based things that are protein-bearing. He might eat enough calories, but they wouldn't have protein.

I'm sure you're not implying that I haven't investigated this for myself, having been (in the past) a vegetarian for 17 years.

I'm not sure that I understand what you mean by, You can only get protein deficient if you're calorie deficit. Because quite clearly that's nonsense. For instance a child that ate nothing but crisps would not be calorie deficient, but would certainly be protein deficient. (Along with pretty much everything else deficient: you need a balanced diet).

Small son has a very limited set of things that he will eat, and for him, at this time, a vegetarian diet would be disastrous. I'm hoping that as he matures, his tastes matures with him and it will cease to be an issue. In the mean-time I'm not turning every meal into a battle-ground. I don't want food to become a negative experience (as it was for me).

He knows where meat comes form. He's seen me shoot rabbits and strangle chickens.

If it's going to come as a shock to your kids, better explain it to them yourself! It is what it is. It's completely ridiculous to be upset that they find out that meat comes from animals.

Gerda I hate to tell you this but you did the maths wrong there. 100g of crisps is about 500 calories and 6.3g of protein. A child needs about 1500 calories a day so that's 300g of crisps which would be 18.9g of protein but a child only needs about 16g-18g and wouldn't be considered deficient unless they had as little as say 10g per day, and potatoes are a complete protein...... This thread turned weird

Wonderful... I'm sure we should all just feed our kids nothing but crisps then. Nope. I'll continue to make sure he gets a proper, balanced diet. With you,know proper sources of protein like nuts, and cheese and pulses (when I can hide them in stuff) and (oh the horror) meat. Sorry. (not sorry)

The thread turned weird because it's not going the way you wanted it to. Most educated meat-eaters have already informed their children how meat gets on their plates.

Gerda why are you here? What's your point? Are you just trying to stir up trouble?

I'm here because you asked a question to which I had an answer. Not the definitive answer, but an educated opinion. You then asked me to defend my answer, which I did. What is it that you feel is wrong with that?

None of whether you want your child vegetarian or not., whether you think it is a healthy diet or not. At 5 my ds would of been distressed hearing such detail and therefore would of felt the same as this woman on FB.

Your 5 year old might have been distressed, but would you really rant about what another child has told them? It was true.
And children who are routinely told the truth and are made aware of the realities of life are less likely to get distressed by such things, so it would be on you not to have prepared them for such realities.

There are going to be all sorts of things like this: Santa, sex, etc. Tell them yourself in an honest and age-appropriate way first, before other children take it upon themselves to inform them!

not my penguin...Yes I think age appropriate is the word in all of this.. We played a game with my DS where he had to guess which animal certain meats came from like bacon, beef etc.

It doesn't have to be a gruesome tale.

Can I point out that a diet of 1500 kcal of crisps is really not a good idea.

One of my colleagues grew up on farms & still has relatives farming. He tells lots of stories about cute baby calves that grew up to be on everyone's plate.

Compared to what our cats do to wild things, domestic livestock have a pretty good end.

We're not cats.

But how can you know for sure. I could be a cat I could be a dolphin heck I could be santa. You can be anything on the internet

You're not a dolphin. Their punctuation skills are faultless and they would never begin a sentence with a preposition. They also have excellent communication skills.
They are, however, vicious and unpredictable.

Ah see they aren't actually unpredictable, you just can't understand them. What they are really trying to say is so long and thanks for all the fish 🐬🐟

They would use quote marks though. They're particular about these things.

Actually in this instance what was being said was being referenced not quoted.

Still SO many misconceptions about veggie diets. My dd has known from very young and while initially a bit sad for the animals has decided she likes chicken and bacon too much to give up.

Her choice is not mine to make, but I find it VERY hard to believe gerda that a veggie diet wouldn't provide your son enough protein. We don't even need that much. Indeed what we're learning more and more is our meat consumption is killing the planet and making us ill!

Blethers, google has not been your friend here. Anyway, I tire of this, I'm off for a bannock and hummus.

You're right Graphista. Plant based diets will become necessary if not for animal welfare but for sustainability.

My 5 y o doesn't now where meat comes from, he would be upset and wouldnt eat it so I'm waiting till he's older to explain.
My 7 y o has a sketchy understanding and wants to be vegetarian but I've told her meat with no bones in is ok .....
My 10 y o knows it all and chooses to eat meat
My 15 y o had an 'ethics' lesson at school 3 years ago about the meat, fish and diary industries, was traumatised and went vegan. She already had health problems but is also now anorexic and 2 stone underweight so while I can check trip what the other dc eat by withholding some information I will and as they reach an appropriate age I will let them know the facts as I did with ds (10) the they can decide but I think 5 really is a bit young