My child is a vegetarian

[brachysira]

"People don't eat animals, right?"

Aside from the occasional cheeseburger, she wasn't a meat-eater anyway, so no big changes.

[crimsonandclover]

I guess I don't quite get it. Your 3 year old asked a question so you're not giving her meat anymore? I mean, it sounds like you (or at least she?) don't eat much meat anyway. Are you a vegetarian and gave her some meat for protein? Or are you not a vegetarian and she just never really liked meat? I mean, if she likes cheeseburgers I think I would still give them to her. I don't think 3 year olds are old enough to be making serious philosophical or ethical judgements. In other words, if she says she doesn't want to eat animals but then wants a cheeseburger, I wouldn't specifically point out that cheeseburgers are animals. Maybe when she's a bit older there can be a discussion about her stance, but for now even if she says she doesn't want to eat animals I'd still give her meat if she asks for it.

Sorry, maybe I'm totally missing the point of this post.

[khaze]

This was me. I never would eat meat when I was little for that reason. I never ended up eating meat ever. I almost never cook meat in my house except on rare occasions for my husband, so my kids don't really eat meat either. I definitely don't plan on forcing them not to eat meat, in fact I encourage them to try it if we do have some, but so far the only meat my kids will eat are chicken nuggets and bacon - hah.

[pinkie]

Yeah I wouldn't read too much into one statement from a 3 year old. If your family eats meat I would just serve it.

[wineandcake]

My kid tells me all the time he doesn't like certain things. Don't like beef today and that's what I made for dinner? I tell him it's pork and he eats it right up. Says he doesn't like chicken? Tell him it's pork and gone in a second. On the rare days he says he doesn't like pork and I made it for dinner? We're eating dinosaur meat for dinner and it's the best thing ever!

I don't really give him a choice since I know he likes these things. If she's a picky eater and not accepting other sources of protein, I would just tell her it's something different. Obviously it would be different if she absolutely didn't like it, but if she does I would pretend. If I make tacos, I don't tell my kid it's ground meat, I just say it's tacos and he doesn't realize it's meat in it. Same with stew - just sat you made stew for dinner, don't say it's chicken or beef stew. I know my child would gladly live off fruit and carbs, he would probably tell me he doesn't like meat just so he could have more of those things. I would be careful about this and make sure she gets enough protein since you said she snacks a lot and the protein would keep her full longer.

[brachysira]

She'll eat a McD cheeseburger or maybe lunchmeat, but she's not big into meat...but she also doesn't eat any vegetables except carrots, sauces, food combinations (like a taco), or beans...she'll occasionally eat a bite of egg.

But she clearly suspects that meat comes from animals and asked a number of pressing questions. There was no way I was going to tell her that we eat cows after all our agricultural tourism this fall and with cheeseburgers being one of the easiest ways to get her some of the things meat provides. I told her that other animals eat animals and that's called predation because animals need what other animals provide. She then asks, but people don't eat animals. Well, our family likes fish. She says, well, I don't, so that's okay... So I'm keeping her in the dark for a bit but she's going to figure it out soon, and then she's going to have to eat more of some other foods, or I'll have to buy her some protein shakes or something.