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Seven year old explains veganism

3K views 71 replies 34 participants last post by  Mia82 
#1 ·
#8 ·
Very cute. I can't help but wonder how much involvement her parents had in this though, I kind of picture them rehearsing her lines with her before turning the camera on
 
#9 ·
"If you're a little deer, minding your own business on a hill, and someone comes up to you with a spear, then you wouldn't not like that, try and think of how the deer would feel and imagine that you're that deer."

too cute, almost makes me want a kid

Quote:
Originally Posted by Werewolf Girl View Post

Very cute. I can't help but wonder how much involvement her parents had in this though, I kind of picture them rehearsing her lines with her before turning the camera on
looked like she was reading the back of the pages, not sure if they wrote her lines or what
 
#10 ·
When my son was seven, there's no way i would have coached him on veganism to that extent. Kids should know where their food comes from, but burdening a very young mind with too much detail about slaughter and the sad processes involved with tearing away calves from the mother's and all of that crap is wrong.

it's setting them up for depression in their teenage years i believe.
 
#11 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by stasher View Post

When my son was seven, there's no way i would have coached him on veganism to that extent. Kids should know where their food comes from, but burdening a very young mind with too much detail about slaughter and the sad processes involved with tearing away calves from the mother's and all of that crap is wrong.

it's setting them up for depression in their teenage years i believe.
Not really. But depression will set them up for depression in their teen years. Kids aren't as fragile as people think they are.
 
#15 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Earthling View Post

I found it really uncomfortable to watch actually. This isn't her perspective but clearly her parents' :/
Yup, it feels like a performance. She's reciting everything she learned. It's a cute video but I felt a little uncomfortable too. Especially with the ranty description written by one of the parents pushing the vegan message even harder, it feels like they're using their kid to be shamelessly manipulative.

Now as far as beliefs you can push on your kids go respect for animals is definitely better than Scientology or something even more frightening (has anyone ever seen God Hates the World by the Westboro Baptist Church? There's an example of terrifying brainwashing.) but kids have a tendency to rebel when they get older if they feel they're being forced into things, I just hope that isn't the case here.

Who knows, maybe the little girl is actually really into it. I know I cared about animals a lot as a kid so I would have thought it all made sense. But I wish this video was something she decided to do on her own because she wanted to, rather than something her parents used her cute face for to push a message.
 
#16 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Earthling View Post

I found it really uncomfortable to watch actually. This isn't her perspective but clearly her parents' :/
Ditto. I gave up in the end, but was too chicken to post here.
I don't think it's necessarily a terrible thing, but it reminds me very much of the uber-Christians who coach their children on the right words/phrases to say. She's 7 and can understand death/suffering of animals, but it seemed pretty puppet-like to me.
 
#17 ·
I dunno i thought it felt forced but her eyes are looking everywhere so shes not watching for cues and if someone behind the camera was whispering lines to her you'd be able to hear it. And I doubt shes reading, shes seven, shes not going to be able to read words like that.
 
#20 ·
"If you're a real animal lover, don't pollute the ocean please. And please, the fish do feel pain. The ones who don't believe that fish have pain, well, they do." Heehee, I think the kid needs to work on making persuasive arguments.


I found this cute. Those of you who think her parents made her rehearse this, have you ever spent time around a 7 year old? My oldest nephew is seven, and he comes up with this kind of stuff on his own all the time, teaching us about math or other things he learns in school. The way she's talking and explaining things reminds me of him.

It's clear her parents (or other adults in her life) have taught her about veganism and AR, true. But I don't see anything bad in this... Teaching children about religion is a different matter, if we're talking about teaching them religious doctrine as though it's fact (I'd have no problem teaching children about the different religions and what people believe without pushing those beliefs on them). That's more akin to brainwashing. With what's going on in this video, the child has simply been taught facts about the world: that animals are exploited, that animals don't want to be exploited, etc.

As for when kids should be taught what, I think that's a judgment call parents have to make, and it's going to be different with each kid. Some kids can handle things earlier than other kids.

"If there's something on sale that says $2.99, and you buy it, then you're still eating junk and dead animals." Haha, she's awesome.
 
#21 ·
When I was 9 my class had a debate each week and on my week I asked to do it on vegetarianism (this house believes everyone should be vegetarian or something!) It was my choice to do it on that topic but my mum gave me all the information, like how cattle farming was destroying the rainforest and about the conditions of animals. How would I have known those things unless my mum told me? The important thing was that I was proud of being vegetarian, thought it was important and wanted to discuss it. I think clearly the girl in this video wants to talk about it and i bet she drew all those pictures because she thought it was important, not because her parents said 'why don't you draw pictures about this and make a video'.
 
#22 ·
#23 ·
Honestly, I have no difficulty believing this girl came up with this herself. Especially in this day and age with everything so easily accessible on the internet, I'm sure if she wanted to find out all this information herself then she could have done.

Quote:
Originally Posted by stasher View Post

it's setting them up for depression in their teenage years i believe.
a pretty wild claim imo.
 
#24 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by destroythenight View Post

a pretty wild claim imo.
Child development experts probably wouldn't think it was that far out there.

when there are adult vegans admitting that they suffer from depression as a direct result of images and knowledge they have gained about the slaughter and cruelty in the animal production industry, imagine the effect on a seven year old who has been exposed to it.

Kids should be allowed to be kids and not moulded into being a mini-adult activist too early.
 
#26 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by stasher View Post

Child development experts probably wouldn't think it was that far out there.

when there are adult vegans admitting that they suffer from depression as a direct result of images and knowledge they have gained about the slaughter and cruelty in the animal production industry, imagine the effect on a seven year old who has been exposed to it.

Kids should be allowed to be kids and not moulded into being a mini-adult activist too early.
As a kid I endured the horrors of farm-life - constantly questioning its integrity - mostly: 'Does this hurt them?' I was always told no. The cows, the hogs, the fish - they don't feel pain.

Is it better that I was lied to and thus coerced into being a part of something I knew was wrong?
 
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