Animal Slaughter Video's for an 11 Year Old

[WolfRain]

Yesterday my 11 year old brother read the latest VIVA! magazine and was appalled by the conditions and articals around how animals are kept and slaughtered.
His is almost Vegetarian, only occasionaly eating a McDonalds when he is out with his father but never eats meat at home - not even Veggie "Meats". He asked me if how these animals are treated is true, and was very inquistive about it.
Now I'm wondering weather it would be a good idea to show him some of the undercover footage of factory farmed animals and slaughter to help him decide if he wants to go Vegetarian 100%.
Im just slightly worried that it would seem irrisponsible to others, although my beliefs are that he should see for himself at an age he can understand it (which I believe his reached) and then make up his own mind.
What do you think? Do you agree he should see where meat comes from and make up his own mind? Or should it be left until he is older?

[BlackDog]

You could tell him about it and ask him if he wants to see the videos.
Explicit videos of animal cruelty can be very traumatic, especially for sensitive people, so I'd advise treading carefully.

[harpy]

Giving him something to read might be better than showing him a film because then he can just read as much as he feels ready for. I'm still too young to watch those very explicit videos, and I'm 50 :D

You could get him a young person's information pack from the Vegetarian Society - I expect the Vegan Society do them as well.

[veg_eric]

What do you think? Do you agree he should see where meat comes from and make up his own mind? Or should it be left until he is older?

I agree with you that he should be able to learn where meat comes from if he wants to know.

However, I would NOT show slaughter video's though, these are shocking enough for adults, and you can not expose a youngster to these images imho.

Kids should (imho) be slowly exposed to what's going on, on that age it can be too confronting and shocking for them to cope (with such video's)

Have you looked for sites on the net about this subject? I'm sure there has to be some kids suitable material around :)

[eco]

You could get him a young person's information pack from the Vegetarian Society - I expect the Vegan Society do them as well.
I would agree with that.

http://www.vegsoc.org/youth/youngveggies.html

http://www.vegsoc.org/youth/

I think that 11 is too young to be shown videos of animals being slaughtered, it could have quite a traumatic effect on him. Your brother sounds as if he's well on the way to becoming veggie anyway and is not going to need too much more info to be convinced of becoming a fully fledged vegetarian. Not many 11 year olds think about where the food on their plate comes from, so you should be proud of him :)

[fiamma]

Would you take your brother to a slaughterhouse? Would you go there yourself? I think these are the questions you should be asking yourself before making this kind of decision. I wouldn't show him that kind of material - as others have said these kind of videos can be very traumatic - and the images I've seen are with me to this day. I also see that you're only 17. I don't want this to sound patronising but are you sure you're old enough to make that kind of decision on behalf of your brother? I doubt he'd be able to properly understand and put into context what is going on in a slaughter video, and strongly advise you against showing one. Just my 2 cents.

I disagree with BlackDog about asking him first - he may blithely say yes for fear of saying no, and once the images are running there's no way back.

[BlackCats]

If I were you I wouldn't show it to him because it would probably be very disturbing for him. I don't even want to see those scenes of slaughter and I'm 31 - I can't even imagine seeing it when I was 11.

Maybe you should just focus on how healthy and strong he can be eating good vegan food and plenty of fruit and veggies.

[puffin]

My son will be 10 this year and i wouldnt dream of letting him watch a animal being slaughtered. I have shown him some videos of how animals are kept and how poor some of the conditions are. It was a website for children and teens.