Why other people eat meat?

September 12, 2002

Does anyone have any recommendations on what I should tell my 2 year old son

about why other people eat meat and he doesn't? It's fine when we are

alone, but he's starting to ask questions when he sees people (his

grandparents, etc.) put meat on their plates when we are eating with them.

He just turned 2 in June so " beliefs " are not a concept he will understand.

I have told him (when it's just the 2 of us) that it's wrong to hurt

animals, but now I think he's wondering why other people hurt animals.

Thanks,

Lori

September 13, 2002

My 3-year-old daughter asks about this too. Luckily, our families are

respectful of our vegetarianism and generally do not have meat when we are

visiting or it is not obvious that they are eating meat. For example, my MIL

might make a meat lasagne and a meatless lasagne. When she asks, I tell her

that most people just do not think about. Others think that animals are not as

important as people and so it is ok to eat them. I'm not sure she " gets " all of

this, and, of course, she is a year older than your son, so that helps. I think

she is most exposed to meat at daycare. She notices, for example, that her

teachers or friends eat meat, and I think that sometimes she does not understand

how what they are doing can be wrong (at least in our view). However, she will

not touch meat. We'll see how long it is until she wants to try it.

Karen