When Children Don’t Want To Eat Animals
At a certain point in life, children begin to be more aware of their surroundings and can be very sensitive to certain issues. The death of loved ones or the fact that a farm animal appears as food on a plate can lead to questions that do not always have an easy answer.
Children’s reactions are diverse when they begin to ask certain questions. It often happens that after a trip to a rural environment they do not want to eat meat or that they want to copy a relative who is a vegetarian. What to do in those cases? How can parents act?
Can a child be a vegetarian?
There are many opinions on this issue. Some doctors say that foods of animal origin are essential in the diet of children and others say that children can eat vegetables, cereals and other foods to get the same nutrients that meat provides.
It all depends on the environment in which the little one is raised. If the family is vegetarian, it is more likely that they will not eat meat products or derivatives and quite the opposite will happen in a house where meat is the main food of the diet.
But beyond the biological or nutritional needs of the child, the philosophical or ideological question is often the one that comes into play. It is true that young children are not usually very objective with their thoughts and yet they can teach adults a lesson on certain topics.
In the case of not eating meat, denial begins from the point of view of consciousness. This means that they avoid consuming these foods by not understanding or not accepting that that piece of meat was previously a cow, a chicken or a fish that lived like him.
Modern kids, awake kids
Until a couple of generations ago it was unthinkable for a child to say at the table that they did not want to eat meat because it is wrong to kill an animal or something like that. Why are we now witnessing this change? Perhaps because there are more and more vegetarians or because the amount of information that children access is greater than a few years ago.
Some researchers say, for example, that it is an “awakening” or a “higher evolutionary level” that allows them to realize that beyond people there are other beings that have life and breathe or feel like them.
Many children have a natural inclination to care for animals that, unfortunately in many cases, is lost over time. For this reason, when a pet comes home, the little ones always have it in their arms, they want to sleep with it or play continuously.
When they refuse to open their mouths in front of a plate of food, it can be due to many reasons. If they are babies it is because they have no appetite, they are sick or uncomfortable, they are sleepy or they do not like what they tasted in the first spoonful.
But that changes as they grow. In general, if a 3- or 4-year-old child says that he does not want to eat meat, it is because thinking that an animal has been killed for it makes him sad. Parents can take the position of forcing him to eat the same (although they will not be able to change his mind) or understand and accept his decision.
Can I allow my child to be a vegetarian?
One of the common problems in parents is that they do not know if it is okay to “let” them be vegetarian from a young age. In the first place, because they do not know the alternatives of cooking without meat and secondly because they fear that in this way the child will do what he wants and that anarchy will be transferred to all areas of his life.
For the nutritional problem (to call it somehow) it is necessary to seek advice, seek information and try dozens of recipes. Some parents choose to hide the meat on their plates and others do not offer it outright. In this second case, the recommendation is to find options where all the basic elements are covered.
Milk, eggs, fruits and vegetables cannot be missing, as well as legumes and whole grains. It is a mistake to think that by not eating meat they can only consume rice, pizza and pasta. Fresh food is necessary for its growth.
On the other hand, when it comes to teaching or upbringing, allowing the child to be a vegetarian for as long as he wants is not synonymous with debauchery and letting him do whatever he wants. It all depends on how the family deals with this matter and how the other daily activities are carried out.
This means that by accepting this new way of feeding the child, one is not a worse parent, permissive or “governable”. A good way to deal with this fact is by talking with the child, trying to give answers to the questions he asks us or looking for them with him. In this way, we will show him that we take into account, we will tell him that the dilemma he poses is reasonable and we will reward the fact that he looks at the world with the heart and reflection.
In this way the little one will feel content and above all understood. To finish, we leave you an emotional video where a child tells his mother that he does not want to eat meat because they are animals and it is wrong to kill them.
