TIFU by making my child vegetarian.

[u/CompetitionExtreme36]

I have a 6 year old son. We went to a fair a few months ago and there was a display of livestock that the public could pet.

Me, trying to be jolly, told him that he'd be eating them for dinner someday.

My son was shocked and asked me how was that possible. I told him that meat is made by killing animals and cooking them. He then asked me what all the meats were. I told him that it's chicken, beef, steak, sausages, salami and mutton.

Later that night at home, I noticed him seperating his dinner. He removed all the meat pieces from the rice and only ate the rice. My wife asked him what was wrong and he said he doesn't want to eat animals.

Thankfully, he's fine with milk and eggs. However, he continued refusing to eat any meat. A week passed and we went to the doctor. The doctor said that it's probably just a temporary phase and we should feed him vegetarian alternatives for the time being.

We now buy canned beans, lentils, greek yoghurt, olive oil, whey protein, soy nuggets and plant-based patties/sausages. We also order a cheese pizza for him.

It's been a few months now, and I've bought iron and B12 gummies for him. Even my wife and I are starting to go more vegetarian.

TL;DR: We went to a fair and there was a display where the crowd could pet livestock. I told my son he'd eat those animals soon, and he's a full blown vegetarian now.

[u/lunelily]

Vegetarian here. I became vegetarian later in life (19), but had a vegan friend whose story has parallels to your son’s—six years old, family at the dinner table, sibling informed them that they were eating a dead chicken. Has never eaten meat since. This a natural, compassionate reaction to realizing that some of your food comes with a hidden cost of pain and death.

You and your spouse deserve a big kudos for supporting your child in sticking to his moral beliefs, even when you don’t share them. That’s wonderful of you, and whether he remains a vegetarian or not in the future, he will remember how you supported him.

[u/gothiclg → u/lunelily]

I became a vegetarian at 18 and I can credit biology class dissections

[u/Vireyar → u/gothiclg]

Dude same. We did the fetal pig dissection in biology, then like a week later we were out to eat and I could not shake from my head how much the diced ham cubes on the salad bar were the same color and texture and wetness as that fetal pig

[u/protrus → u/Vireyar]

Oh god. Memories I wished to forget. Same here with the pig. Same semester, we had a "body farm" for our forensics class over a few weeks. We used whole chickens from the butcher. I was mortified on the first week and was a vegetarian for a few years after that. Eventually became difficult to keep up for myself, but anytime I think of it I reconsider going veggie again.

[u/Emkems → u/Vireyar]

wow. That diced ham description has me nauseous, but that’s only because it’s so on point. Unsure if I will ever be able to eat any deli meat ham again

[u/panda388 → u/Vireyar]

I could never get over how a sheep's brain felt like cutting through a firm cheese. I still love cheese and meat, though. But it pops into my head whenever I find myself near charcuterie.

[u/exsanguinatrix → u/gothiclg]

I barely eat red meat these days. I also remember being the teeny tiny TA up at the front of the bio classes at my university, having to kneel on the lid of the 5-gallon pig bucket with my tights and ~professional~ dress on in the winter to "burp" it and have enough torque to open it 🙈 I wouldn't be surprised if a lot more people subconsciously gave up meat as a result of that whole awful exercise! Diet by Carolina Biological Supply...

[u/CaptainCAAAVEMAAAAAN → u/gothiclg]

Oh god, I remember biology class. We had to dissect a fetal pig. I'll never forget the smell!