Kids, Compassion, and Ruby Roth on Why We Don't Eat Animals

Last week was Children's Book Week. And though I meant to write this last week, as a timely post to coincide with that celebration, I forgot until Kelly of easyVegan.info posted on one of the very books I was going to post about (and, as it turns out, the only book I'm going to post about today beyond general discussion about kids, compassion, and books--because this post got crazy-long). I learned of Ruby Roth's That's Why We Don't Eat Animals about two months ago, via the same source as Kelly--Vegan Dad. And as someone who loves kids, books, and kids' books, and who knows the importance of the third for the first, I was immediately excited and enthralled.

The artwork, previews of which are available on the book's sites, is bright and enchanting, and from what I can tell without having yet seen the book (due for release in a week, with pre-order available at Amazon), the message is clear, simple, and compassionate. And I love that Roth apparently gives due attention to the fact that our fellow animals have families too, that emotional bonds are not unique to humans, and that alone would have excited me about this book. In addition to exploring the Web site, you really must watch the video about the book embedded at the end of this post. It's short--only 2 minutes long--but gives great insight (including images from the book) into why Roth wrote the book and what it's about. I obviously can't give a full-fledged review before having seen and read it firsthand, but I can say that we need books such as this.

I was that teen who babysat constantly and who loved the kids she cared for fiercely. I've been a live-in nanny, and I worked at a day care half-time and full-time for a few years during college, in what turned out to be perhaps the most fulfilling job I've ever had. I'd done all the coursework and practicum but student teaching when I decided to stick with my English degree but not pursue teaching. I've at times considered becoming a children's librarian, given how much I love children, how much I love books, and how enormous and magical a role books played in my own childhood. All this is to say, I may not have kids, but I know kids (and books). And I'm excited to see this book, for vegan and vegetarian parents and caregivers looking for ways to help their kids understand these issues and for kids who I hope will come across it in libraries, as a gift, or at a friend's house.

Toddlers and young children are so open to the world and its inhabitants, so full of affection and wonder, and so free of judgment except for what judgments the adults in their lives teach them. Children aren't born racist or homophobic or even dismissive of animals. They have the capacity for great love for all around them, from other children to all kinds of animals to a grove of tall trees. And the books that are read to them and that they read themselves have incredible potential for opening and widening their minds, hearts, and imagination, for impacting them for years to come. But in the area of animals, books like Roth's are rare. And so terribly often, we actually lie to kids, and we teach them to abandon compassion as childish, to embrace prejudices and judgment, and to conform themselves to what adults believe--and who adults think children should be--without giving them the opportunity to make their own choices, even when they want to. (More on this in another post soon.)

There are omnivorous parents and (and non-parents) who will decry exposing children to a book that teaches them about what happens to animals at human hands and that portrays veganism so positively. They will insist that it is inappropriate to "indoctrinate" children, to push our "views" on children. And to them I say, how ridiculous. First, indoctrination is already happening; the pushing of views is already happening: Raising kids to not think about where the food on their plate really came from and to ignore or dismiss what happens to animals is already happening. Lying to kids (and ourselves and our fellow adults) is already happening. Raising kids to think of dogs and cats as friends while thinking of--and cruelly treating--equally intelligent, complex, and emotional cows, pigs, chickens, and other animals as unthinking meat, dairy, and egg machines is already happening.

A book like Ruby Roth's isn't about opinion or propaganda or politics--it's about truth. And it's about respecting children enough to tell them the truth and let them make up their own minds. That's all it is--telling kids and their parents and caregivers the realities about the far-reaching and painful implications of what we call "food" and exposing them to compassionate alternatives. And--again, from all that I know--it's not a violent book or a graphic or traumatizing one; it is an honest but peaceful book about compassion. And those who may be uncomfortable with their children knowing those truths and being exposed to that compassion need to stop, look inside themselves, and ask why--and perhaps make a diet and lifestyle change themselves.