Hey kids, this is how you take the guts out of a sheep.

Loxley

Water Chip? Been There, Done That
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2008/05/13/535144.html

Pictures tells alot, but basically the kindergarten is trying to teach the children the difference, between pets and animals breed for food. The kindergarten have a barn where it have some animals that the kids have helped feed and raise all through the year, and now they get to see them butchered. In this case, by butchering a sheep while the kids are watching. Answering all questions that the kids have to ask.

Only the oldest kids in the kindergarten, was allowed to watch and need parental permission. So only 7 of the 23 kids that attended the kindergarten was allowed to watch.

The kids do not see the killing blow itself, but the bloodletting and the rest of the partition of the sheep they get to see.

"We do this so the kids can see the diference between Pets and (dunno the proper word in english but animals that are breed for food or to be usefull, I think is the word) usefull animals. They were very eager and paid attention to what happened with the guts. And when the stomach was cut open they got to see what the sheep had been eating"

One of the kids were wondering "if the sheep was in pain when it was skinned."

I think I covered it all, any norwegians with better english skills than me feel free to point out things i missed.

So..thoughts on this? Would you send your kid to this kindergarten?
 
that's a little harsh out of kindergarten, but a tiny bit later? sure no prob.
 
Loxley said:
So..thoughts on this? Would you send your kid to this kindergarten?

Why not? It's reality. Better than raising them on the pure hypocrisy that we tend to wield towards such things here and watching them turn in vegetarians when realising they're eating cute bunnies or whatever.

Perhaps it's too young, but seriously, you can't protect your kids from reality ad infinitum, that's just stupid. Years ago kids grew up with this reality from day 1. In many countries they still do. There's no inherent reason for them not to, here.
 
Yeah, I'd sign my kid right up. Or at least I wouldn't have any problems with him attending if he wanted to. (Notice how I'm assuming I'll get a boy some day, since I'm manly and love my meats and want to teach my seedling all about hunting and farting and not being gay or vegetarian.)

I'd rather have them cut up a rabbit or a mini-pig or something like that, though - something that can be used for a pet and for food, to illustrate how there's no reason to value animals any higher just because they're cute. Mebbe start it off slow with something like a chicken, move on to rabbits and mini-pigs, then on to the sheep, and then for the big finale a puppy just for the heck of it.

I do agree it may be a bit too young with 7 though, with the only reason being that I don't know if it could scar the poor little kiddos into veganism. That'd be bad, waaay bad. I think such a thing would require well planned pedagogics.
 
At least I pretend to be manly on the internets, and mom always said; if I think something hard enough it will come true. That's how I got an intercom radio in my head and magic powers.
 
my first reaction is "eh? Kindagarten kids?" but then I figure that a generation or two ago most people would be familiar with this process. That being said I've don't my share of hunting and butchering rabbits for dog food etc... Maybe if its handled in a non gory way it would be fine I suppose (don't show they the killing blow for example).

There a are a lot of people now days who think milk comes from the super market etc... so this could be usefull if done correctly
 
The killing blow isn't the most violent or gory part of slaughtering an animal.

I'd say the bleeding and cleaning out entrails would be the most controversial parts.
 
Makes me wish I had that kindergarten instead of my happy-go-lucky one where everyone taunted me for being able to read and write before they could.

Lousy traumatic childhood.
 
I remember when I sliced my first sheep. The funniest part was when it bloated up. I started to kick it's stomach hoping it would explode. That probably makes me a villain.
 
Paladin Solo said:
I remember when I sliced my first sheep. The funniest part was when it bloated up. I started to kick it's stomach hoping it would explode. That probably makes me a villain.

As long as the animal in question isn't cute, you're in the clear.
 
Phil the Nuka-Cola Dude said:
As long as the animal in question isn't cute, you're in the clear.

Cute? <s>Jews</s>Shepherds compare sheep sex with human sex. You don't get much cuter than that, unless you're fucking some really ugly and hairy (see Turkish) woman.
 
Nope, I think I would skip that particular experience for a child.

Take a kid, give him a farm animal, let him build a relationship with the animal as if it were a pet, and then tell him, "Oh its no pet, its meat," and then slaughter the things before his eyes.

To me that's a bit cruel.

Even if the kid knew that the animal would be slaughtered, many kids would still build attachments to the animal.

Now a kid who grows up on a farm might be conditioned to this because they grew up with the knowledge that the animal would be slaughtered, and perhaps learned to create emotional distance.

But a kid who's not used to that? Its a different culture. Give them time to mature a little before doing that.
 
7 year old? Watching how a sheep is guted? What for? Is there no other way to explain the kid that meat comes from animals (dead animals), than to show him how to take it's organs out before his eyes?

Yeah, I know that you can't shelter a kid from real life, but they need to be taught that all life is valuable, although unfortunatly we still need to kill animals to survive. Not our fault - we do what we have to do and shouldn't take pleasure from it (at least IMO). I don't think that a 7 year old would understand this properly, it'd think like "OMG TEH SHIZT IZ ALL OUT LOL" and think it's funny (assuming it won't get a trauma).

'course, I can be wrong.
 
Ravager69 said:
7 year old? Watching how a sheep is guted? What for? Is there no other way to explain the kid that meat comes from animals (dead animals), than to show him how to take it's organs out before his eyes?

Yeah, I know that you can't shelter a kid from real life, but they need to be taught that all life is valuable, although unfortunatly we still need to kill animals to survive. Not our fault - we do what we have to do and shouldn't take pleasure from it (at least IMO). I don't think that a 7 year old would understand this properly, it'd think like "OMG TEH SHIZT {Don't say that "iz" is faster to type, it's one key above the garbage you wrote.} ALL OUT LOL" and think it's funny (assuming it won't get a trauma).

'course, I can be wrong.
Better that they know where the meat comes from, instead of eating meat in ignorance.

And welsh, it was not that brutal, the kids have been told from day one that the animal was to be butchered and eaten. This is not the first time they do this.

Kids in norway start school at age 6. So those kids there are 5-6 years old, someone maybe younger. Personally I agree with the whole thing. Just to teach the kids where the meat come from at an early age and that they can make the connection between that and roast lamb next time it is served.

Remember that the kids got to see everything but the shooting and bloodletting and the butcher was answering all their questions. The kids will probably eat the meat later.
 
You can be a vegetarian, but it'll ruin your body (especially if you start early).


No, cannibalism is not an option.


Well, on the other hand....
 
Why didn't they do that in my kindergarden?

Slaughtering animals that way is actually alot more humane than sending them on a stressing truck ride to the slaughter factory (read: concentration camp).
Why shouldn't they watch? Anyone who can't watch the animal they are going to eat be killed and prepared doesn't deserve to eat it.
 
Ravager69 said:
You can be a vegetarian, but it'll ruin your body (especially if you start early).

That's only true if you don't understand nutrition. Think about it like this: most people don't understand how to eat right, and if you take those people and make them eat vegi/vegan, you have the walking dead. I really don't like unhealthy vegies / vegans, as they only serve to reinforce peoples opinions on this.
 
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