mum2sarah
08-29-2005, 12:22 PM
My stepdad asked if he could take my 3 year old to the park the other day, and I was a little hesitant because I know there's so many people that fish at this particular park, but she really wanted to get outside, so I agreed. My stepdad is one of those people who's just simply clueless about what might offend a vegan besides meat. For instance, he was bragging about how he was able to find real leather chaps to wear when he goes on his motorcycle, and he once entered my sister (also vegan) in a contest where the winner gets to go to a bull-riding competition. He doesn't do these things to make us upset; it's just that the thought that it might bother us never crosses his mind.
So anyway, in hindsight I should have said something about steering clear of people fishing, but I didn't want to seem like a paranoid freak who was trying to shelter and overprotect her children....But anyway, when they came home, my stepdad told us all about this little 6 year old girl who was fishing and took a liking to Sarah and wanted to show her how she was fishing, etc. etc. and how she walked with them along the path by the lake a little bit. I just said, well that's nice but she's not going to learn how to fish. He clearly didn't get it, but I just glossed over it and decided I'd have to have a talk with Sarah about it in private. So when he left I tried to explain to Sarah why we don't fish.
I told her that when you fish, you put a hook in the water and the hook goes through the fish's mouth and hurts them and then you drag the fish out of the water and they can't breathe because they can only breathe in the water. She looked pretty horrified and said, "But that little girl was really nice." I could see that she was wondering why a nice girl would do something so mean to a fish. I tried to explain that the little girl was probably very nice but probably didn't realize how badly she was hurting the fish. Sarah said that maybe she would go fishing without a hook, and I said no, there's no way to go fishing without hurting the fish. I told her that we could watch the fish in the water and say hi to them and maybe throw them breadcrumbs to eat, but we couldn't go fishing because that would hurt them.
She still didn't seem to understand why anyone would fish if it hurt the fish. I said to her that the reason we are vegan is because we love animals and don't want to hurt them, but some people who are not vegan think it's o.k. to hurt animals. She knows we're vegan and that we love animals, but I think she has a hard time grasping why anyone would hurt an animal... In fact I'm not sure she believed me that it would hurt a fish to go fishing, because she just can't fathom why someone would do it if it did, kwim? Is there any better way I can explain this to her... I hadn't planned on crossing this bridge quite yet....
So anyway, in hindsight I should have said something about steering clear of people fishing, but I didn't want to seem like a paranoid freak who was trying to shelter and overprotect her children....But anyway, when they came home, my stepdad told us all about this little 6 year old girl who was fishing and took a liking to Sarah and wanted to show her how she was fishing, etc. etc. and how she walked with them along the path by the lake a little bit. I just said, well that's nice but she's not going to learn how to fish. He clearly didn't get it, but I just glossed over it and decided I'd have to have a talk with Sarah about it in private. So when he left I tried to explain to Sarah why we don't fish.
I told her that when you fish, you put a hook in the water and the hook goes through the fish's mouth and hurts them and then you drag the fish out of the water and they can't breathe because they can only breathe in the water. She looked pretty horrified and said, "But that little girl was really nice." I could see that she was wondering why a nice girl would do something so mean to a fish. I tried to explain that the little girl was probably very nice but probably didn't realize how badly she was hurting the fish. Sarah said that maybe she would go fishing without a hook, and I said no, there's no way to go fishing without hurting the fish. I told her that we could watch the fish in the water and say hi to them and maybe throw them breadcrumbs to eat, but we couldn't go fishing because that would hurt them.
She still didn't seem to understand why anyone would fish if it hurt the fish. I said to her that the reason we are vegan is because we love animals and don't want to hurt them, but some people who are not vegan think it's o.k. to hurt animals. She knows we're vegan and that we love animals, but I think she has a hard time grasping why anyone would hurt an animal... In fact I'm not sure she believed me that it would hurt a fish to go fishing, because she just can't fathom why someone would do it if it did, kwim? Is there any better way I can explain this to her... I hadn't planned on crossing this bridge quite yet....