I am so far lucky that my almost-5-year-old is into being vegan (like both her parents), so I haven’t had to get too gruesome with the facts (no factory farm footage for her). But I think about it all the time. If she starts to say she doesn’t want to be vegan anymore, how much of the truth do I show her, so she can make an informed decision? Because, yeah, mainstream culture is not giving anyone an informed choice; it’s selling them an idea that It’s no big deal. It’s just food.
I wrote a piece called Raising a Vegan Kid in a Non-Vegan World, which deals with some of the same things you write about in yours.
Excerpt:
“If someone was hitting their kid in front of us, or kicking their dog, my husband and I would step in. We step in when a kid is tickling or hugging another kid without checking in. In every case except for eating animals, we model for her that you always step in if someone is hurting someone else or touching without consent. We don’t treat it as a matter of personal choice, because the choice is negating someone else’s choice.”
Thanks for writing this. I think you’re asking all the right questions.
Also, I see you wrote that great piece about YA books! Following you now!
