Watching Babe - telling the truth about sausages

[peanutter]

I'm watching Babe for the first time, and the pigs have been carted off in a truck.

DS1 (3yo) asked where they're going.

I normally just give honest answers about questions, but this is one of those things which I'm just not sure he needs to know right now.

I'm a little bit torn - at the dinner table I have no issue saying that sausages are made out of cow, and the roast is made out of sheep, etc, but I'm not sure that I want him to be up all night upset about eating Babe's mum in dumplings tomorrow.

What do you tell the kids? And at what age?

[LimeSlice]

I tell them the truth.

For 3 year old, it would be very basic, and brief, but honest. I find that if they want to know more then they ask, but usually it is, "Oh. Can I have ice cream now?".

Most recently, the questions from DD2 (who is 3 in 3 months) are along the lines of where is my mum, what happened to her, where did she go and when can we wake her up. She responds best with the honest answers and so far, is taking things in her stride, then asking further questions a day or so later.

What our food is and where it comes from though are quite serious to me, I want them to understand as early as possible where it comes from and why we need to respect it, so part of that is understanding how Babe's mum becomes tomorrows dumplings.

[wysiwyg]

sausages are made out of cow

Sausages and cow I cant get my head around these words together!!! , in UK sausages are pork - pork is default meat for sausages.

Anyway I always just give honest answer, always seems to have been accepted ok. I think maybe is when kids are older that they may grasp reality and be more upset. I gave up sausages for a week after reading Charlotte's web, but was prob 8 or so then

[Miss.September]

We have six steers here at the moment and I'm waiting for the day DD1 asks what's going to happen to them. She's already very funny about food and we've explained what the meat is on our table, but I don't believe she's connected the dots that what she sees in the paddock is actually what ends up on our plate. As far as the steers go, if I still think the truth is going to be an issue, I'll go with a half truth and say that they will be going off to market for other people to buy. If she's okay with the full truth, I'll elaborate.

It's hard if the kids have a connection to the animal too. Your DS might be more accepting of the truth about Babe's mother because it isn't actually Babe. Although, the whole thing was always far fetched to me as far as Babe went anyway - simply because sows would generally be used for further breeding, not meat ;-) But hey, then I should question the entire story of a talking sheep pig too.

[beansbeans!]

Every time we go to the farm we bring home a lamb for the freezer. We last went up in august, and dh and uncle took the gun and went out to select one. They later came home with one (they had skinned and gutted it before returning). Anyhow I had the girls inside while they cut up the carcass, but it didn't take long before the big girls ventured out and watched and started asking questions. We explained to them that it was a lamb from the paddock, and we were cutting the meat up to take home. We answered all questions they asked, and they seemed to understand.
Later dd2 asked if the lamb was back out in the paddock and ok again. And she wanted to make sure it wasn't a pet one that they may have bottle fed.
Same has happened when we explained where the trucks take the animals. Honestly though we do get a bit sketchy (perhaps unsure of the right words to use) when it comes to the abattoirs and such.
Even after knowing what they know, they still have a pretty big disconnect between animals in the paddock and what's on our plates. Well except for chicken.

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

Liebs had the connection age 2 and is fine with meat. Never been distrught that the chicken on the farm is on his plate for dinner, or that pigs = sausages. Tell them early, get on board with ethical farming early. I was brought up knowing farmed animals and that part of my upbringing never scarred me for life.

[AliBaby]

I still have a big disconnect. Yes I do know but I don't really like to think about it.

[Nai]

I'm veg so my kids know where things come from and why I don't eat them, they always have. But what they do is their choice. Miis 7 says "I agree with being veg, and I don't agree with eating animals, but they are just so yummy"

[Trillian]

Be truthful and judge how much you think they need to know at this point. For some it will be enough to know that cows = sausages, lamb/sheep = chops and roasts etc. I think it's really, really important that kids know these things so it normalises the process. It's not about turning them off meat and making them vegetarian etc, but just talking about where their food comes from and how it ends up on their plate. At 3, they don't need to know much more than that, but as they get older you can talk about it in more detail. For us it was a non issue I suppose - our kids have always known where their food comes from and can actually see the whole paddock to plate process but for inner city kids that's not so easy and it's easy to have that disconnect.

[peanutter]

It's trickier than I expected it to be.

I have no issue whatsoever being honest about where it comes from (we're buying 1/4 of a cow this week, and will be enjoying dear Bessie for a while, and hope to get half a lamb when we're running out of Bessie) and I agree that it's important for the DSs to grow up knowing where things come from, and respecting that. And understanding that some animals are kept to give us milk, and some are kept to give us meat, or to ride, or for all sorts of other reasons. And we look after them, and then use them, and we take good care of them before and after (including not wasting food, etc).

It's the personalisation of it that bothers me ...

That being said, I've got a friend whose parents are farmers, and every now and then she still opts out of the meat at dinner, if it's an animal she was particularly friendly with.

I guess it's all just part of life.

[Trillian]

Maybe you could explain it as not being a real pig/animal? That they use robots for movies etc.

[peanutter]

Good thinking

[Phteven]

My boys are fine about eating dead animals but were distressed about the concept of lambs having their tails docked. Go figure.

[beansbeans!]

I was just talking with dh about this and he reminded me that his school teacher acquired the babe piglets after they were no longer needed. Most were consumed, by this teacher and his extended family over time. But before that they lived a happy and free range life.

[raffy]

DH grew up on a farm and learnt first hand very early on where our meat comes from, he even hand raised a calf and named her chocolate and then had 'chocolate' for dinner

I am a vegetarian but I do cook and serve meat to DH and the boys I've just made the decision not to eat it myself. I see this as a huge advantage as now with mine and DHs backgrounds combined the kids will have no choice but to learn the pros and cons to eating animals and to make sure of that we've been nothing but honest with them if questions do arise