I’ve been a vegetarian since 2008, so I’ve known this conversation was coming since before I had children, but I’m still not sure how to handle it. I need to have the vegetarian talk with my three-year-old. A few times now there has been a meat option at the table and he asks if I’m having any. I’ll answer that I’m not because I don’t eat meat, I don’t eat animals. His response each time has been “this isn’t animals, this is food.” After the third time I asked if he wanted to know what animal hot dogs come from (hot dogs were on the menu). He said yes so I told him “they come from pigs.” He responded with a “pffft, no” and my husband gave me a “let it go” look, so I did. We’ve had the “this is food, not animals” conversation a couple times since then and I’m not really sure where to go with it. He’s already a selective eater so I don’t want to eliminate food from his diet, but I also want to be honest and let him decide for himself.

Last week he and I were eating, just the two of us, and again I explained that people eat animals for food. He insisted we do not so I decided he’s not ready to learn about it just yet.

Anyway, that’s it. No lesson here, just figuring it out as we go. Definitely looking for tips if you’ve got them!!