Is it right to feed a child meat from a young age?

Question

I'm not a vegetarian. Though I've read books and seen documentaries that has helped me gain more of an understandining of the 'slaughter world.' What really opened my eyes was the TV show by Jamie Oliver (Jamie's Fowl Dinner's). Nothing could have made me go off meat more than that.

I was wondering whether it's right to feed a child meat from a young age. It came to my mind earlier this evening when I was watching my 4 year-old cousin being fed spoonfuls of lamb by my uncle.

I just wonder if it's best to let the child decide and have an insight from a young age about the whole meat production business. I mean, it's sort of the same thing with religion, isn't it? Some parents let their children decide whether or not God is real (not my parents though, I was born Catholic).

I know that if most kids were given this choice, they would decide to eat meat like most of the world... but there would still be a small percentage who would not.

Opinions please?

Thanks!

-Tim :]

Answer 1

I do not know if it is right for all.  I do know, it is not wrong.

Answer 2

I feel that when you have a child, you should bring your child up as you see best. If you decide to become vegetarian, and still are once you are old enough to have a family...then raising your child on the food you have provided in the house is just perfectly fine. There would be no need to have meat in the house. I still believe in the "eat what is set before you" mentality for children. I do not think you should force them to eat things they don't like, but if you are feeding them a well-rounded, healthy diet...then having some variation cannot hurt. If you are eating meat by the time you have kids, the same would hold true. Once the child is old enough to say if he or she would like to eat meat or not, then it is really up to you...because you are the parent. There would need to be boundaries, and you are the one that has to set them...but also giving a little leeway here or there so you are not seen as too "harsh. As for religion, I am Christian. I was raised Catholic. In my opinion, Catholics are still Christian, but I turned Protestant on my own accord. Raising your child, in the faith you choose is the best option in my opinion. However, presenting one faith as better than another is wrong in my belief. Keeping an open mind, would give your child the opportunity of having an open mind as well and make them much stronger for it in the long run. Obviously, your parents are doing something right that you can ask intelligent questions such as this. Peace

Answer 3

Well, what do young children do to animals?

Do they try to jump on them and bite them?

Nope.  They try to pet them and cuddle with them and play with them.

Do children play-fight as carnivore youngsters do preparing for the hunter prey life they will lead?

I just do not see the natural instincts for killing in young human children.  If we were meant to eat meat, it would be raw, fresh, meat.  Not old, processed, frozen, then highly cooked, etc. meat.  There's a reason we cook it and grind it and add tenderizer etc. to meat.  It's because we are not naturally designed to consume it.  We cannot even chew raw meat anywhere near as well as, say a wolf.  And they generally swallow huge chunks; rip, tear, swallow, with little chewing.  We'd choke to death if we tried that.

Not only that, but the digestive system of young children and babies is not prepared for anything that is difficult to digest. Meat or not. They should be consuming breast milk exclusively for at least 8 months (all mammals do, including carnivores) and after that introduce very easy to digest foods such as mango, steamed turnip, and such.  We didn't give our children any processed foods at all until they were about three years old, and even then is was in the form of noodles, whole grain organic cracker, or whatever.  Children don't eat much, so we fed them totally organic foods, a lot from our own garden.  If parents were to give their children meat, they should wait until they are old enough, say at about 4 or 5 years old.  In the past, most humans did not feed their children 'adult' foods until they were about the age of 8 or older.  Adult foods being the more hearty and more difficult to digest foods.  Regarding dairy, no mammal on the planet, carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore consumes dairy.  None.  Not after breastfeeding is done.  Why?  Because we are mammals; milk is for infants.  The end.

Answer 4

You are asking if it is okay to let a four year old child to decide what it should eat?? If that happens to be Snickers bars and Haagen Daz ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner, what then?? That seems pushing the "let a child be free" principle way too much isn't it?

There is a thing called parental responsibility and part of that is teaching kids the proper way to live. If you believe that vegetarianism is the right thing, that's perfectly fine. But make sure that the child gets all the proper nutroition that he/she requires. If you happen to believe that meat is part of a healthy lifestyle, then that's okay too. But again, ther responsbility of doing it right rests with the aprents not teh child.

As they get older, you can slacken the noose so to speak and let them make SOME decisions on their own. But as long as they are your responsibility, you should ahve control.

My children can choose what they eat within reason.

Answer 5

i think it is great that you are thinking of giving up meat, the way animals are kep just so we can have meat is well i could not put into words or i would be kicked off yahoo, but you know what i mean. sadly we can not make other people stop giving there children meat but i think every one should know how the meat gets to us. i would not tel a young child because that's way too much for there little minds to take in. but good luck with what you do on this one

Answer 6

Just feed 'em meat and get over it.  Jesus.  If you can't make a decision on your own about how to raise your children without the advice of total strangers, turn your kids over to someone with a spine to raise them.

Answer 7

ya of cource . if we want the baby to be 120 kiloes when he grow

Answer 8

It’s not right to feed meat from childhood because meat takes too much time to digest more than vegetable or milk so this will cause many problems. Also up to 5th age our digestive system supports milk more than anything. If a kid fed meat from childhood he will be attracted to its taste and he will avoid vegetables and this may cause a big problem because most of the vitamins are mainly got from vegetables. Absence of these vitamins may cause many diseases.

Also it's good for you to change to a vegetarian but don't avoid meat because our body (in your age) needs food like meat, liver, fish etc.

Answer 9

yes it's fine,let them make their own mind up wether or not to become a vegetarian when they are older.

No parent should force their own beliefs on a child.

Answer 10

i think its wrong to feed children meat and to eat meat at all,