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"Mama, What's a Vegetarian?" This article was provided by: Note: The information on this website is presented for educational purposes only.
There comes a time in every little veggie baby's life when they realize that another baby, or Grandma, or even the family pet, is eating something they aren't allowed to eat. Maybe as a one-year-old, your son unknowingly reaches for a little friend's ham sandwich. Or as a two-year-old, he cries loudly in protest when you snatch the sausage out of his hand that kind Aunt Betty so thoughtfully provided. By the time he hits three years old, you'd better start thinking about your approach! My three-year-old has just figured out that she isn't allowed to eat meat. She has listened in on enough of our conversations to be aware that we are something called 'vegetarian'. Now she has started to ask why, and to be honest, we're stumped! Of course, we know our reasons for choosing to be vegetarian, but explaining them to a three-year-old is extremely tricky. She no longer accepts the really simplistic reasons (which to be honest, included my desperate husband's response, "Because we just don't.") Nor does she want the complete explanation. For a while, explaining that we don't want to hurt animals seemed to satisfy her, but lately she wants to know what eating meat has got to do with hurting animals. Now you may think we should just explain the whole 'meat is actually slaughtered animals' thing, but if you have an extremely sensitive child as we do, this is certain to lead to a meltdown. This child cries when an ant is accidentally squashed! So, we are trying to tread very carefully without presenting her with a rose-coloured view of the world. We started talking about animals dying, and that led to insistent questions about when Granddad died. Did people eat him? So then we tried explaining that we had made a personal choice to not being involved in hurting animals by eating them, to which she asked, "Is Grandma evil then, because I saw meat in her fridge?" (OK, not exactly those words, but that was the gist of it.) Clearly, we were flailing around in the dark and needed some inspiration. I began searching for a children's book, which would help her to begin to understand. After an extensive search, I found only one and it was aimed above her age group. Surely, we were not the only parents grappling with this issue began thinking long and hard about how to best approach the subject. There are three areas she needs to learn about concerning our choice. She needs to learn that from an environmental point of view, vegetarianism is the best option. From a health perspective, and from an ethical perspective, vegetarianism again wins out. With these three areas in mind, I began cutting out pictures, choosing ones that would fit into these categories. I cut out forests, lakes, and mountains and made a simple narrative under the pictures about environmental issues pertinent to the vegetarian lifestyle. My 'health book', included pictures of healthy foods and vegetable gardens, with short explanations aimed at a three-year-old, as to why vegetarianism is a good health choice. And finally, I cut out pictures of animals in their natural surroundings, cartoon animals, pets as well as pictures of people meditating (we are Buddhists) to help her understand our ethical perspective. This hasn't been the perfect explanation, but it has given her some general ideas and generated some interesting discussions. I know in her imaginative world of princesses and fairies, a story about a magical princess who explains vegetarianism in a happy and fun way, would be more accessible to her, but this is the best I can do at this stage. It's worth thinking this through in advance. When your child is a baby, you won't have to do much explaining--other than to annoying relatives who go on and on about iron. But the time will come when you need to do some explaining. And trust me, it's not easy. I wish I had thought of what to say in advance, because it is certain that your child will ask you why they don't eat meat in peak hour traffic, on the toilet or at Aunt Betty's family Christmas. So think ahead. Have your reasons clear not only in your own head, but be prepared to word them in a way that your little person will understand. And if anyone has any advise about what to do when they reach adolescence, and demand a steak, please call me! Click here to visit the Vegetarian Baby & Child Website Copyright ©Melanie Wilson |