Do you let your children watch you butcher a chicken?

[jenny_kap]

here, in romania, we have a saying: "the 7 years from home matters". that means the education that you get at home, before you go to school, in your first 7 years of life is what it matters, is the foundation of what you become. so, you want to be the one that educate your kids or let the tv and the internet do it later? teach your kids, build the foundation.

 

[halo]

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[babymakes6]

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WELL SAID!

 

[CluckyJay]

I let my 4-1/2 year old watch me slaughter them. I explained to him why we were doing it (the hen was killed by ants) and what we were going to do with her body. The cats and kittens got a good meal out of a tragic situation. I watched and helped when I was a young child too. I found great joy in chasing my sisters around with the lopped off heads, lol.

Teaching them how to humanely kill the chickens and respect their flock mates goes a long way into good life/death coping skills. Coddling kids too much will hurt them later in life. I see too many adults who lack coping skills because their parents didn't teach them as children.

I didn't turn into too bad of an adult. Just don't ask my husband to confirm that last statement, haha.

 

[CluckyJay]

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Such a true statement!

 

[Laurajean]

Haven't read this whole thread, so this may be a little out of context. I know many people would say to involve kids and I don't judge that, it's up to each family. I can tell you this however, from my own childhood. My father let me watch while he slaughtered pigs and also a few deer. I have to say that it completely traumatized me and affected me for life. I never ate meat again, literally, I am still a vegetarian today. I do realize that I was and perhaps still am more sensitive about animals than your average person, so I'm sure I'm a rare exception, but yes, it deeply affected me. Once I saw the "in between" stage from pig pen to table, I was just horrified. But I've always been an animal nut, admittedly. You might even consider starting off with a pre-screened (by you) YouTube video of a chicken processing, and show your kids that before you show them the live thing, so you can gauge their ability to handle it. My father never intended to traumatize me, he was simply trying to show me the ropes. But you never know how different kids are. Good luck!

 

[magicpigeon]

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I can definitely remember a similar incident happening to me... except it was a turkey I believe...
Trust me, if they display interest you should be fine. Just not if you have to ask them "hey, would you like to ..." then use polite euphemisms to describe the process the will eventually see and still vividly remember to this day xD

 

[AlpineSpringsRanch]

For my three year old (turning four next month) we have let her see the animal alive, and then watch it being cooked whole (young pig). She doesn't seem to have an issue with it. If you walk her by a live pig and ask her if she'd like to eat it she says yes. When it comes time to butcher one of the chickens we feel she is probably old enough and mature enough to watch at this point and will probably let her know she can come out of the house and watch if she likes or stay in the house and watch cartoons and let it be her choice.

 

[CluckyJay]

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I just got an image of your kid walking around pointing to all the animals saying "I'd eat that".

 

[vjbakke]

If they have interest in it I would let them. I would never make them if they didn't want to see it.