Being vegetarian is depressing explaining to kids?

[Guest guest]

jhr writes:

 

How do the rest of you respond to questions from your kids about

meat-eating friends and relatives, to help them understand but not vilify?

 

 

Heather,

I wanted to chime in about how I have explained things to my son (now 10

yrs. old- vegan since birth).

He absolutely asked all the same questions. Why does grandma, uncle etc. eat

meat/ animals? I have told him that we all have the ability to make choices.

Other people even in our family feel and think differently than we do. We

still love them, but may not agree with their choices. We can talk to them

about

it nicely, and also ask them questions.

He has done both, in very loving and compassionate ways.

We also have extended family, those people who are not blood relatives, but

we call them the family that we choose. Most of our extended family are

vegetarian/ vegan. So, my son realizes how tangled the web is, and still can

maintain his curiosity and compassion.

Hope that makes some sense.

Peace,

Laura in MD

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

We are very close with our extended family and see various members a

couple of times a week. They all eat meat, and often at the same table

where we're eating our food (i.e. at other people houses, when we have a

barbecue -- we never have meat in our house and they respect that).

 

It's been hard for my kids to grasp -- many times my 4-year-old has

asked them, " But you're part of our family, so why do you eat meat? " I

tell him that different families make different choices about the way

they want to live their lives. We feel strongly about the choices we

make but we can't force others to make the same choices. I don't want

him to think his grandparents, aunts etc. are bad people. It's hard for

a 4-year-old to understand, though -- and now sometimes when my kids are

playing, I'll hear them say things like " We're cooking meat for lunch! "

When we discuss it I tell him that we live in a place where we have lots

of choices for food, and we are very well-fed and healthy without

anything having to die for us, so why would we choose to eat meat?

 

How do the rest of you respond to questions from your kids about

meat-eating friends and relatives, to help them understand but not vilify?

Heather

 

Renee Carroll wrote:

> I agree completely. My husband and I had kept our daughter pretty

> much sheltered from other people eating meat for the most part up

> until a couple of years ago. She knew that 'some' people ate meat

> but that idea was a foreign to her as that some wackos will even eat

> people. As her eyes started to open to the world around her she

> would go up to people (strangers even) and ask them if they ate

> animals. I was mainly concerned about her attacking her 6 and 7 year

> old friends because they don't have much choice over the matter that

> their parents feed them animals. I read Carol Adams " Living Among

> Meat Eaters " around that time it was a great help to me. Since then

> she seems to have become more complacent about other people eating

> animals. I find myself thinking just because you found out killing

> and eating animals is more common than you had thought doesn't mean

> that it suddenly became an exceptable choice. I suppose we are still

> working on the difference between

> what is right and what is common. Living in a world full of

> meat-eaters can be so hard.

> Renee

>

> Lisa <lisaviafamily wrote: Audrey, I'm sure it

> wasn't your intent, but your email rubbed me the

> wrong way a little. Meateaters ask us to respect their choice, but

> your choice involves the suffering and slaughtering of animals. I

> can't respect that. I don't see where being a veg*n hurts anyone, so

> I'm not sure why there are over-enthusiastic meat-eaters...what's

> their agenda? Veg*ns spread the idea of compassion. Over-

> enthusiastic veg*ns, like those in PETA, actually serve a purpose,

> although we need all types of veg*ns to spread the word in various

> ways. I don't consider myself an over-enthusiastic vegan in how I

> approach meateaters. In day to day life, I find being laidback and

> approachable more useful than being aggressive and in someone's

> face. But if I could pass a law tomorrow taking the choice of eating

> meat away from every meateater, I would in a heartbeat without any

> guilt about taking away that choice. Most of my bestfriends are

> meateaters. I certainly don't respect that about them. I feel sorry

> for them. I don't think that humans can develop to their full

> potential as spiritual beings as meateaters. I'm glad that you are

> here supporting your daughter and learning, but please don't expect

> and ask members of a veg*n board to respect someone's choice to eat

> meat. And don't be surprised or offended if someone comes here to

> vent and says something derogatory about a meateater. Lisa

>

>

>

> New Messenger with Voice. Call regular phones from your PC and

> save big.

>

>

[Guest guest]

I don't have the answers to that. But I can still reply anyway right;) I think

that when a 15 year old says I'm not going to eat meat anymore for the most part

people tend to respect that. But when a 4, 5, or 6 year old says I don't want

to eat animals anymore parents, relatives etc tend to say 'shut up and eat your

hamburger.' I remember being 6 years old and my older sister forcing me to eat

pork. She was around 22 at the time - and had decided that if our parents

couldn't get me to eat meat that she could - a way to prove her 'adulthood' to

them I guess. Its been my experience that a little kids decision to not eat

animals is not respected to the extent that an older child's is. So when my

daughter has a conversation with another little kid about 'why do you eat

animals' and they say 'I don't' -- I tell her that its not that they don't eat

animals they just don't know any better. I feel so sorry for them.

Renee

 

 

 

 

New Messenger with Voice. Call regular phones from your PC and save big.

 

 

[Guest guest]

>How do the rest of you respond to questions from your kids about

>meat-eating friends and relatives, to help them understand but not vilify?

>Heather

 

***In exactly the same way. It was something I never thought of until I

joined this group when my son, 6 yesterday, was 14 mos. Parents of

pre-schoolers were discussing the same issue and I realized it would be

something I would have to deal with eventually. I think I probably would

have taken a more hardline approach until I realized how much my son loved

my parents and how hard it would be for him to think badly of them. While it

took some time for him to understand 'we all make different choices because

we each have different opinions' it was well worth it. He is now a very

accepting little boy, aware of his own opinions but respectful (if curious)

of others.

 

Madeline