r/tifu • u/CompetitionExtreme36 • May 29 '24
TIFU by making my child vegetarian. S
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.
986
u/lunelily May 29 '24
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.