Calling vegetarian parents (and anyone with opinions on this) - how do I answer dc questions about our diet?

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

DS is 3 (4 in August) - He just asked me 'Why are we vegetarian?

I said 'Mummy and Daddy don't eat animals and because you are our son you don't eat animals - if when you are older and make your own decisions you may want to eat meat but until then you are a vegetarian too.'

I don't want to traumatise him with stories about animals suffering and how they get killed etc. But I need to answer his questions as honestly as possible. It would really help if I could get an idea of how others have approached this topic with their children.

I'd say "Because mummy and daddy don't believe that we need to eat meat to stay nice and healthy, so we don't".

Maybe a bit to vague? not sure really.

I suppose I do mostly explain about the animals dying etc
I don't go into detail
just that we love animals and don't want to eat them - we don't want them to die for our food as we can eat other things

I have used those words Franny - saying that I love animals and therefore do not want to eat them. But I am not sure how much detail ds wants - he is at a stage where he is learning about death (obsessed with the dinosaurs being wiped out by metorites) and so his questions are getting difficult. In a good way though iykwim.

I believe in honesty when children ask questions but - as he is prone to nightmares I don't want to go ott.

Our DS is nearly 2 so we've not had to broach this subject yet, but I'd think what you've said sounds about right. I don't think you need to go into any gory details about how the animals actually die (that would give me nightmares!) but just explain how you don't want an animal to suffer when you don't need to eat meat to be healthy.

My sis says "animals are our friends and we don't eat our friends"

Now the children are older, she says "we don't eat anything with a face"

I say (on a daily basis at the moment) that there are lots of reasons why people are vegetarians...
some people believe it is healthier
some people believe that animals are tapu (sacred)
some people don't like the taste of meat
some people don't like the way that some farmers take care of the animals that are bred for food and that humans have a choice, we can get the things our body need from meat or from things such as beans, lentils etc, etc. I then turn it over to him and ask him what is important to him...he usually says that he (I should point out here he and dh eat meat, I don't) only wants to eat meat if the animals have been taken care of and that he likes the taste of vegetarian meals better

I tell my dds about animal farming. And I showed them a gruesome flyer about factory pig farming which came in the post. It didn't traumatise them, but it gave them an idea of why they are the only children having vegetarian school dinners.

And the older two (8 and 6 year olds, not the 4 year old) are quite capable now of choosing whether to eat meat, or just to eat free range meat. One eats free range meat ("happy meat"), one eats no meat.

because we dont eat animals simple as.dd has chosen to eat meat now(dh does so its in thehouse)
its explaining to others that annoys me.

Agree with cheesesarnie about explaining to others! DD1 is only 2 so hasn't really noticed she's a vegetarian, but other people keep asking if I'm "worried about what her diet will do to her." Erm, no

We say to the children that in order to eat meat an animal has to die, and because we dont need meat to live we dont eat it (they know that the cats eat meat because cats have to have meat to survive).

Thank you for the further responses.

Ds has not been given any detail about farming and how animals are slaughtered yet but if he asks more specific questions I will answer. He is getting to grips with the concept of extinction thanks to a dinosaur obsession.

I have yet to field any awkward questions about the ds diet - but am used to defending my choices so it doesn't bother me. Nearly 20 years ago when I first became veggie I used to be told I looked 'pale' ( how strange for a ginger haired girl with fair skin to look pale in winter!!) and other tedious bollox about vegetarians - it is so much easier now.