ok i think my 6 yo might be rebelling against our veggie lifestyle. my hubby is semi converted but i would still call him an omni.
he loves hot dogs, i wont buy them, but he will eat them when we go out.
so yes 6 yo dd wants one........she used to happily eat the yves good dogs .......but she asked me the other night for a hot dog, i said we could get some veggie dogs at the store, she said she wanted a "real" one and asked where they come from so i was blunt and said they make them from pigs......cute little piggies..........
she said " i dont mind"
i almost fell off my chair, this is the same child who wants to be a vet, loves animals, rescues sick and injured animals all the time.......picked out her cat from the shelter.........
i dont get it.
what should i do. should i insist she continue to be a veg.......or should i allow her to be omni like daddy on occasion? i dont buy meat and i wont cook meat in the house, if they want it they get it when we eat out.
how would you handle this? would you just let her make her own decision on this? and hope she follows my lead?

I think at that age and with that kind of insistence, I'd give her some more information, including visual, about the conditions that those animals lived and died under.

http://www.whyvegan.com
http://www.meetyourmeat.com

or do a search on factory farming and pigs for what you might find appropriate.

What does your husband say about it? It seems to me that you have to come to some kind of understanding with him before you get into explaning about AR (at an age appropriate level of course) to your daughter. Once you established how far you can go you do have lots of options: Irizary has given you two links and I always like the idea of taking children to petting zoos (or better yet, an animal sanctuary). There you daughter can meet the animals and learn about them and what it would be like for them to become a hot dog. But you must be prepared for her to ask her dad why he would contribute to animal cruelty.

what did it for me was going to the state fair and seeing the cute little animals suffer even know I am not 6 years old I was 11 when this happened u should try this

I'm not the greatest candidate for giving advice on kids, but maybe a little truth in the situation wouldn't hurt. I don't know if going as far as showing her graphic pictures/movies would be necessary but maybe you can sit down and talk with her. Explain to her that the cute little pigs have to suffer their whole lives and then are brutally killed in order to make that hot dog for her. In her mind, "made from pigs" probably means a cute little pig in a kitchen with a chef's hat, cooking hot dogs... well, maybe not exactly, but I'm sure she would "mind" if she fully grasped the concept of how hot dogs are made (and the gross parts they are made of, ew!). Good luck!

I'd emphasize the grossness factor.

From wikipedia:

There is no fixed specification for hot dog meat, with pork and beef being the most popular. Less expensive hot dogs typically contain chicken, due to the low cost and availability of mechanically separated chicken, and some pork. Hot dogs are generally regarded as unhealthy insofar as most have high sodium, fat and nitrate content. Contents can also be questionable, with cheaper types of hot dogs having been known to contain snouts, ears and organ meat blended.

When I learned of how disgusting hot dogs were as an omnivore child/teenager it was enough to make me stop eating them.

I agree with the hard look at how they are killed method. Show her earthlings video if you have too.

She needs to understand why you are against meat even if she STILL decides to be an omnivore.

Keep on her and give her some vegan/vegetarian role models! Carrie Underwood is Vegan!

When my father was a teen (he's 60 now) he worked at a store in NY that made their own hot dogs. He said that after he saw the "crap" they squish into them, he went home and told my grandmother, "NEVER EVER buy hot dogs again!!!"

Anyhow, as far as your daughter goes, maybe "I'm the mommy, so you'll eat what I feed you, and I don't feed animals to people" or something along those lines? If she wants to be an occasional omni, let your husband feed her meat. You should stand by your beliefs. You'll teach her a valuable lesson that way.

She is 6, I would approch her with the gross angle of what they put in hotdogs not what happens to the animals beforehand.
Not unless you are wiling to put up with her possibly having nightmares or thinking her daddy is a "bad man" because he eats hotdogs KWIM?
Above all else this is something you really need to talk to her dad about as well, one parent being veg*n and the other being omni can be confuseing for kids, we are a mixed household and I have just let the kids choose what they want to be.

With a 6 year old, you could probably get away with putting the real ones in the category of junk food that she's not old enough to eat. The veggie ones aren't as bad for sodium and fat, etc, but the ones from pigs are just awful nutrients-wise.

When I was 6 years old I ate what was on the table. i wasn't allowed the option of my own decision.

When I was 6 years old I ate what was on the table. i wasn't allowed the option of my own decision.
I agree with purrpelle, but of course that raises the issue of coming to an understanding with Dad of what IS going to be on the table.

As far as explaining it to her, if you have pets, or she knows her friends' pets, you could analogize. "You wouldn't eat something if you knew little Fluffy had been killed and ground up and put in it, would you?"

I'm curious where she even got the idea of a veggie dog vs. a "real" hot dog. I assume from her omni dad, or maybe frm school, but I can't help thinking this concept is probably making things harder. Once a kid gets the idea that the thing they usually eat is not the "real" thing, they're bound to start thinking of the "real" thing that they never get as some kind of wonderful treat. On that note, maybe another tactic would be to say, "Sure, honey, you can have a hot dog," and give her a veggie dog. Then teach her that those other things aren't really hot dogs, they're ground up dead animals, and we don't eat those. (I'm getting the feeling, though, that someone more experienced in parenting than me is going to tell me how this could backfire.)

Considering how hard it is for most adults to make the mental/emotional connection, I'm not sure it would be worth getting too upset if a 6 year old doesn't. I think if she asks why you don't buy her hot dogs, you can consistently give a non-manipulative, age appropriate response. I don't think graphic videos will make the point, but only upset and confuse her. I don't think you can strong-arm anyone, especially not a child into agreeing with your values. You can only lead by example, have respectful and meaningful conversations at teachable moments (like at a petting zoo as was suggested) and set what you feel are appropriate limits and rules. That's more respectful IMO anyway.

Furthermore, I think that getting into long justifications for your choices for her will set a bad example for the future-- you shouldn't have to justify your parental choices to her. You can give your explanation, or even discuss her feelings about it, but in the end it's you and your husband's decision what she eats or doesn't eat, case closed. There were plenty of foods I wanted as a child which my parents never bought and no, I wasn't emotionally damaged. :)

I think when I said "they come from pigs" i wasnt clear enough. I am going to just let it go and buy the veggie dogs at the store next time. it hasnt been mentioned again and she didnt have any hot dogs......LOL
yes she probably heard her daddy say "real" vs veggie dog at some point. I really have to give a nod to my hubby though... because this was a very meat and potatoes kind of person when we married, the meal wasnt a meal without the slab of meat, ya know.
well he is now probably 90-95% veg.....he will eat everything i buy and cook in the house, he loves it........he only eats meat when we go out, and not always then either.........so for him to have cut down drastically on his meat consumption is good to me. he may never go 100% like me but thats ok.
as for the kids, i think if i explain it a little more to her if she asks again it may help but i dont want her to feel like mommy is right and daddy is wrong, i want her to see the choice is hers, and hope she follows my path, not his, ( although his path is not that bad because its only an occasional thing) right now she has been on my path her whole life ( aside from the occasional lapse from her daddy and this has only been lately)........her little brother on the other hand is 100% veg and has been his whole almost 3 yrs! LOL, he doesnt know anything else yet.
thanks for the links and advice!

I think a six year old is far too young to see graphic pictures of animal slaughter. Not only could it traumatise her, but also she is unable to grasp what is going on. At 6 years old, there are concepts in those videos which are FAR beyond her reach.

However, I would hire the DVD called "Babe" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112431/ and watch it with her. It's a great movie and will make her realise that a pig is no less precious than a beautiful little kitty.

I agree with Diana.

Watch the DVD "Babe" or even "Charlotte's Web" for cute little warm-fuzzy piggy stories...

I agree with the state fair thing. If she feels connected to the animals she'll be less likely to eat them. I went to the fair and saw a mommy pig with the babies. I was able to hold one of the babies and thought about how one day she would be a pork chop, bacon, sausage, hot dog, etc. and started crying because all the baby wanted was her mom. Been veg for 4 years now. That was my turning point. I connected.

If you wanna be extremely hands on with her, see if you can find somewhere she herself, can see a pig. You know like get up close and touch a pig and experience one alive. Try to gently explain how that these pigs are killed and then made into hotdogs.
Once she sees what a pig is like, and how it can feel and move around like her, maybe she wont want to eat it.
Or you can rent Babe and show that to her then explain what happens to pigs like babe, when they are made into "food"

i agree with ayrlin and diana that she is too young to be shown graphic videos! i wouldn't even consider it at that age--seems too likely to cause trama, nightmares, etc...besides, do you really want to scare her into vegetarianism? just try to teach her about compassion and good health...

No i would never show her the graphic video, that stuff upsets me tremendously.
i really honestly think when is said comes from a pig, she didnt understand i meant the pig dies. i should have said they have to kill the piggy,
she has been to many farms, animals shelters, petting zoos etc........we live in a rural area, many farms around.
it hasnt been brought up again but next time i will explain it a bit better, but no i wont show any graphic stuff,
thanks!

I should also add another thing I do lately is i say something is either "healthy" or "unhealthy", so she is always asking if something is healthy or not.
she saw nuggets on tv the other day and asked if they are healthy i said no but the ones i get at the store ( the boca ones or trader joes) are healthy, its easier i think to explain it that way rather than the graphic chicken being killed to make nuggets explanation.

I don't envy you one little bit, with a rebellious kid who wants hot dogs.... my kids decided to become veggies along with me, when they saw the Peta website, and saw the graphic pictures. It actually had nothing to do with me. But they are 14, so that is an age where such pictures might be received differently than from a 6 year old. Maybe you can read up on some stories, and tell him what goes on in the slaughterhouses?

Update, dont know if you guys saw my post on product reviews.
but i found Franklin Farms Veggie Dogs, she LOVED them........so when a hot dog is craved I will get these, i thought they were very tasty too.
they arent vegan though, they have egg white powder in them

Remember at 6, unless you are homeschooling, she is listening to her peers at school also. Just tell her you feel it is very wrong and you can not teach her something is okay when you believe it to be wrong. That would be like lying to her, and ask her if she wants you to start lying to her with your actions or with words? Ask her if that is the kind of momma she wants you to be.

We do homeschool. but she does see others eating animal products