5 year old saying he doesn’t want to eat meat.

[Rogben13]

My son who’s 5 keeps saying he doesn’t want to eat animals any more as he likes them and thinks it’s mean. I’m all for cutting out red meat but I’d like to encourage him to carry on eating chicken and fish for the protein etc as he won’t eat beans or things like spinach. Do I encourage this not wanting to eat animals thing or keep offering him meat? As a family we’re certainly not vegetarian but do eat meat free tea time meals around twice a week, my husband thinks it’s ridiculous and he’s just going through a phase. What would you do?

I would listen to him and see how you can incorporate vegetarian dishes into your meals for him. There’s a lot more choice now and it may be a phase he passes but it means you are listening to him. Look through cookery books and pick out alternatives and let him be a part of how you approach it and cook together. Maybes look at locally sourced meat as an alternative or ethical fishing.

Agree with your husband.

You’re the parent - so parent!

Does your meal plan include other sources of protein (eggs, Quorn, lentils, tofu, soy...)? It's pretty easy to replace chicken with other sources of protein.

It may well be a phase but there's nothing ridiculous about it. Your husband should have a bit more respect for his son.

I'd go along with it tbh. Quorn do really good replacements and still have loads of protein in them.

I'd just tell him that what he's eating is chicken-flavoured potato

I absolutely would respect his wishes and don’t think that eating meat should be seen as the default good parenting option.

My dd has been vegetarian since the age of six- her choice and now 23.

Exactly @SpeckledDot

I’m vegetarian have been for 30 years - I have 2 children ... both raised on a mix of meat and veggie meals ... over the years one has gradually slowly and surely refused more and more meat dishes . He now eats a vegetarian diet at home with the odd Mc Donald’s burger out or a spag Bol at someone’s house !

He often describes himself as vegetarian .

I have always told him he can have the meat or vegetarian option but that if he turns down the meat protein he must eat the vegetarian . Given the choice that would probably just be cheese ... but he does eat quorn regularly and often tries things I have out .

I knew age 5 that I was vegetarian but was force fed meat , it wasn’t good , lots of tears and lots of not eating at school went on ... nutrition was dreadful.

Seeing how my son is developing I do wonder if there is some kind of genetic link as neither of us like the taste or texture of meat . My feelings aged 5 though were very similar to your son .

I would tread carefully and try and give him a bit more choice to eat vegetarian without adding a label to him .

Just use meat substitutes for a while. There are plenty of options. He might change his mind going forwards or he might not. But the reality is that we all need to reduce meat consumption for environmental reasons particularly red meat, and so this isn't a bad thing.

My No 2 DD stopped eating meat aged 10 and 6ix years later is still happily meat free. It's a wee bit of a faff at times making two meals simultaneously but nothing insurmountable.

I would support your child. He's starting to make moral decisions you have to encourage him. Your husband may be right and it's not going to last but he's wrong in saying it's ridiculous.

I became a vegetarian aged around 9, and my Mum was very much “if you aren’t going to eat meat you have to eat all your vegetables”. So if he wants to give up meat, fine, but he has to eat the beans and spinach you mentioned he wouldn’t eat. I now have a 5yo DD who isn’t vegetarian (I still am) and if she says something like “I don’t want this chicken” or “you aren’t having this, why do I have to?” then I’ll say “that’s fine, if you don’t want that, you can have this avocado/aubergine/courgette etc like I’m having instead of meat” and she soon eats her meat instead She’ll sometimes say “I eat chicken and you eat avocado”.

I would definitely advise against lying and calling chicken “chicken flavoured potato”

At 5 if he’s got a limited palate and will reject meat substitutes, spinach etc. I wouldn’t go along with it - 10 is another world for reasoning than 5. If he’s willing to embrace foods he needs to go veggie or vegan and really mean it then I might think differently.

Yes what @Lollypalooza said, they either buy into it fully or not!

If you already have meat free meals )that he likes) a couple of times a week, you could make a bit extra each time and he could have leftovers of that the following night while the rest of you have a meat meal.

My children are older but decided to go veggie. The outcome is that we all eat veggie because I can't be bothered doing 2 meals. However as they were 8 and 11 it was easier to say to them ' either eat what I cook, lentils, tofu and all or I'm cooking meat'. Quorn substitutes are ok. He may change his mind after he can't have ham sandwiches or whatever but he may not. Mine didn't even cave at Christmas although to be honest, the nut roast their grandma made them was bloody delicious!

I decided I wanted to be veggie at the same age.

Parents forced me to eat meat.

I hate them for it even Decades down the line. How dare they!

How dare you? Respect his wishes

I would listen to him and support him!
You can't force him to eat meat if he doesn't want to.
But you can lead by example as well - choosing sources of meat which are ethical and sustainable (farming of red meat has a lot of positives for the environment and is arguably more ethical and sustainable than chicken and fish production).
If the rest of the family are eating tasty meat-based meals occasionally and you take care over where you source your food from, it may well change his mind eventually.
Or not! He's clearly quite strong-minded and focused which is great.

I would let him try, and explain that he will need to eat other foods to make sure that he gets the right nutrients. There are lots of vegetarian sources of protein that aren’t beans though.

He’s not being ridiculous.

I think that it’s fair enough to say that he doesn’t want to eat meat, but then he doesn’t get a choice about not eating veg either. It has to be all or nothing and while I would say to him that you support his wish not to eat meat the alternative is the beans and spinach that he refuses to eat currently.

My DS said at five that he wanted to become a veggie, I pointed out that that would obviously mean no more ham and pineapple pizzas or roast dinners but if that was genuinely what he wanted then we would find a way to make it happen.

It never did. .

At five you are the parent and he is the child, and while he may wish not to eat meat, at five he is not necessarily old enough to really grasp what that means i.e. that you have to go to great effort to eat the right kinds of foods to stay healthy.

Respect his wishes and go with it. Me and my husband are vegetarian (want to be vegan, and will be making the change soon) but are raising our son vegetarian. If he wants to eat meat when he’s older he can but he will 100% know where meat comes from.
If it’s a phase then he’ll go back to eating meat but honestly, veganism is mainstream these days so vegetarian options and recipes are everywhere and vegetarian protein is easily available for him.
Does your son eat eggs/beans/lentils/soya meat substitutes?

I would respect his wishes, he might change his mind in a week, he might not. It would be more important for him to eat his vegetables etc though, and check the salt content of some of the veggie replacements like the sausages, quite staggering! Depending what sort of meals you usually cook hopefully there won't be too many adjustments for you.

Why don’t you at least try it out. See if it lasts, and it least give it a go. There are so many options .... veggie sausages and quorn mince are easy replacements. . My daughter went vegetarian around the age of 8 or so .... it lasted about 6 months then decided she wanted to eat chicken and burgers etc again ...... then at 11 gave up all red meat, age 12 included chicken and fish .... age 13 took up fish again. There are times when there are 2 different meals served to accommodate different eating habits, but I would not force someone to eat meat who didn’t want to (although I was worried about protein etc)
I respected her views, and allowed her the chance to change her mind, again and again.

I would respect his wishes
It maybe a fad but yu are showing respect and that his onions are valued.
In the meantime here are loads of vegetarian child friendly meals on line that the whole family will like.

alternative is the beans and spinach that he refuses to eat currently
You cannot honestly think the alternative to meat has to be beans and spinach!!! Spinach is to other vegetables what liver is to meat!