meat is tasty tasty murder

Curious_George_2

can anyone help me with what to say to my DD (very nearly 7) about meat,

she has decided she doesnt want to eat the lovely fluffy animals and will tell anyone that will listen that she doesnt like any kind of meat and yet she eats it more times a week than she realises,
so its not that she doesnt actually like it.... its more like she hates knowing where it comes from (which i understand, she is a caring soul and loves animals)
but what do you think is the best way to explain to her that this is just the way things are... animals are bred for meat and eating it keeps us strong?

have any of you had this problem with your children??

im sorry if this offends any vegetarians but im not happy about my child turning into a pasty non meat eater! and i am definitely not interested in cooking a different meal every night just for her that she will eat all of two bites of (cos lets not forget, she is only 6 and they rarely clear their plates!)

please help!

SoozieSoo

I went through a phase like this when I was about 10. My mum just let me get on with it. I soon grew out of it as I got sik of veggie food, as will your little one.

Becles

My son has mentioned this in the past, but I just told him that humans eating animals was similar to other situations in nature.

We talked about other food chains that he has come across himself, like in the Lion King when antelopes eat the grass, then the lions eat the antelopes or in Finding Nemo, where the bigger fish eat the smaller fish.

I just said it was the same for humans in that cows eat the grass and we eat the cows and so on.

He accepted that fine, and still eats meat.

Curious_George_2

Becles, I tried the food chain discussion and funnily enough finding nemo came into it!
but she was still really upset about the fluffy springy lambs....

gingercordial

I'm not a vegetarian myself but I do respect people's choices to eat whatever they want. Most of my friends and my boyfriend chose to become vegetarian at around the age of 13. Some grew out of it, others didn't. Their parents had various reactions (my boyfriend's mother STILL won't cook anything "special" for him, well over a decade later) but nothing their parents could do or say changed any of their minds.

Your daughter is rather younger but I would allow her to choose not to eat meat if that's how she feels. She may start to miss meat and start eating it again. She may forget her objections. Talk to her and try to reason with her, but I don't think you should make food into a battleground with her, if at all possible.

Karen1980

When I was a child I never ate meat it was not until I was a adult I started eating it lol My mum never forced me to eat it and im ok!!

nearlyrich

A young relative of ours decided to go veggie age about 14, we respected her decision and even cooked a quorn roast for Christmas lunch just for her, by last Christmas she had decided that she doesn't want to be a veggie any more so she had her share of the turkey etc with the rest of us.

Fran

Curious_George wrote: »

........ yet she eats it more times a week than she realises,
.......... im not happy about my child turning into a pasty non meat eater! and i am definitely not interested in cooking a different meal every night just for her that she will eat all of two bites of (cos lets not forget, she is only 6 and they rarely clear their plates!)

please help!

It sounds like you are giving her meat when she doesn't realise - surely that will take away her trust in you when she realises?

It is easy to cook alternatives, there are plenty of Quorn and other alternatives like soya mince and chunks that you can use in place of meat, you might even enjoy them!

the_devil_made_me_do_it

Leave her to it, even at 7 she is old enough to make her own choices about food. I suggest you buy some kids vitamins tho' to make up for her not eating meat.

You wouln't worry so much about it if it was sweets she started refusing to eat, so don't worry about this

lewt

or tell her that sweets have some sort of trace of dead lambs in it.


tell her there's bad lambs that have to be eaten to stop then breeding and killing the nice little lambs that she see's in the feild.

or when she's had one of the meals in the week that has git meat in ask her if she liked it then tell her it had meat in.

[Deleted User]

no more jelly beans, they've got animal product in them.. go look at a list of kosher/non kosher items and it gives an idea of all the sweeties that have animal bits in them

http://www.kosher.org.uk/downloads/Nosh_Guide_06_FINAL.pdf