How to Tell Kids Where Meat Originates

You know what happens to animals when they’re slaughtered for food, and you have to figure out how to tell your child. You’re afraid of emotionally damaging them, and perhaps you’re thinking of not making it clear. Go through this checklist and you may find it easier to discuss a difficult situation with your children.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Know the truth. Many people think they know what actually happens to the animals that are being put on their tables for dinner. They imagine a giant field somewhere that cows and chickens wander freely in before they magically fall down and turn into meat. The truth is, animals are put into small, dirty, confining areas for their very short and miserable lives before being stunned and cut apart, sometimes while still alive. If you want to tell your children the truth about what happens to animals, be willing to find out the truth yourself.
2. Don't treat children like they're stupid. Children are sponges, and everything they see and hear becomes part of who they are. Creating a false truth for a child that makes a parent feel more comfortable can be a dangerous trend to set. Children are smarter than most people give them credit for, and they deserve to be spoken to as if they can handle the truth. Being sensitive and age-appropriate is not an excuse to lie to them.
3. Let them make their own decisions. If a child is horrified by the concept of eating a living creature and decides that they don’t want to continue doing it, you should let them. If they change their minds and decide to continue eating meat again, then they’ve made that decision themselves. But a child can be perfectly healthy as a vegetarian, and forcing them to eat meat when they find it disgusting can create a rift between child and parent that can lead to other problems.
4. Explain the language. In order for them to completely understand the size of the situation, explain what all the terminology means. Hamburger is made from cows, hot dogs are made from pigs. Make sure they are aware of all the words that we use to disguise the origin of the meat, and that things like shrimp and tuna were once alive. Help them to figure out for themselves what foods contain meat, so they can identify it themselves.
5. Encourage them to pay attention. This situation can give you the best opportunity you may have in a child’s young life to make sure they know how important knowledge is. As they grow up, you want your children to make their own decisions and look into the repercussions of their actions. This situation is an example of something they would never have known about if they hadn’t taken it into their own hands. And that is an important example to set.

Tips & Warnings

• "Killing things is the circle of life" isn't necessarily a good answer. Many times, that kind of thinking leads many children to believe that everything is about pain and death, and that causes depression and other hopelessness issues.

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