Six months ago, my nine year old son decided to become a vegetarian. Like many other children I know of, he never really liked to eat meat, but he did so because the grown-ups in his life kept telling him he needed the protein and the B vitamins to grow. I don't recall protesting with my parents about eating meat when I was a child, and I don't recall any of my peers questioning it either. But today things seem different. How many toddlers do we all know who refuse to eat meat? And how many parents insist they eat meat anyway?

When my son was away from school one day this past year, he missed the opportunity of choosing between a variety of food topics for a report. The only topic nobody had chosen when he got back, was "meat". None of the kids wanted to do a report about meat, but they happily did apples, grains, and other food groups. He came home in tears because he was left with the one topic of food he disliked talking about, and now he'd have to study it in-depth. I helped him research and read a few books and he learned all about factory farming vs traditional farming. The final sentence in his report was "I have decided that I will no longer eat meat, and I am going to be a vegetarian." He read the report to his entire grade three class, and afterwards most of the other 22 kids came up to him and said they agreed with what he said. Do children perhaps know something we adults don't?

I should add, that my son's version of being a vegetarian is not what a true vegetarian would do. He won't eat beef, lamb, pork, chicken, turkey, or dairy, but his favorite food is still sushi and when he orders he always asks if the fish is wild or farmed. If it's not wild, he won't order it. He also eats free range eggs. Perhaps one day he will become a "real" vegetarian but it will be his choice. When he made the choice to do this, I decided to do it with him and I've never looked back and I don't miss eating meat one bit. We had to make a deal with dad though, that he eats like us a few nights a week, and I cook meat for him the rest of the time. Baby steps............