Compassion
is something that can be taught and developed;
the earlier, the better!
If you ask reasonable, caring adults whether they want their children to take part in unnecessary violence, they will most certainly answer “no!”
Compassionate, responsible parents and teachers today do a great deal to connect children to the natural world and they teach them to love and respect mother nature, our earth in general and all the creatures that live on it. They give them background on the reality and impacts of many of our daily choices, including those surrounding our food, entertainment such as circuses and zoos, clothing and other products, and they provide them with empowering, compassionate, alternative choices in all areas of life.
Children have an inborn capacity for compassion. In fact, they often identify with small animals, including stuffed animals and have compassion for all living creatures and this compassion should be nurtured and acknowledged by adults.
Teaching kids to have compassion and empathy for their furry, feathered, and finned friends is vital for preventing cruelty to animals as well as in raising them to respect and treat those who are different from them with kindness. According to the National PTA Congress, "Children trained to extend justice, kindness, and mercy to animals become more just, kind, and considerate in their relations to each other. Character training along these lines will result in men and women of broader sympathies; more humane, more law-abiding, in every respect more valuable citizens."
"Live by and teach the Golden Rule:
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
Since young children naturally identify with animals, and because animals are living beings like us, we can use our interactions with animals to teach children how to behave toward other people. Teaching our kids to respect and protect even the smallest and most despised among us is one of the most important life lessons that we can pass along to them. It helps them learn to value one another - and it prevents violence.
Unfortunately, although well meaning but uninformed, there are also adults that allow children every day to be unwitting participants in violence. So, while most adults would answer “no” to the question of whether they want children to witness or participate in violent acts, they are allowing just that every day. Parents make their children unwitting participants in violence against animals at mealtime, when they buy a child those new leather boots, and when they take their children to circuses to see the elephants and tigers perform unnatural acts for their entertainment. The children are “unwitting” participants because, as a society, we have determined that it is too harmful to a child’s well-being to inform them of the violence associated with these desired lifestyle choices.
Unfortunately, although well meaning but uninformed, there are also adults that allow children every day to be unwitting participants in violence. So, while most adults would answer “no” to the question of whether they want children to witness or participate in violent acts, they are allowing just that every day. Parents make their children unwitting participants in violence against animals at mealtime, when they buy a child those new leather boots, and when they take their children to circuses to see the elephants and tigers perform unnatural acts for their entertainment. The children are “unwitting” participants because, as a society, we have determined that it is too harmful to a child’s well-being to inform them of the violence associated with these desired lifestyle choices.
While some schools teach their children to love, respect and even to help animals in need,
Peasenhall Primary School in England teaches children just the opposite!
This school intends to rear 3 pigs that will be sent to slaugther
February 12, 2013 - via BBC.News.uk
The piglets, due to be named Ham, Bacon and Pork, are being raised by the 25 pupils at Peasenhall Primary School.
Teacher Sarah Brown says the children will look after the pigs before sending them to a local butcher.
"We've discussed that we're going to feel very sad," she said. "But they've all said 'we like eating sausages'."
The pigs, which are a cross of black and Gloucestershire old spots, were born on a farm in nearby Sibton and will be delivered to the school next week.
'Education enriched'
The pupils, who are as young as four, will be involved in "every stage" of the pigs' journey to the plate, from making a home for the pigs to marketing the meat.
"They will be involved in designing labels and thinking about how we could sell them, including the posters and pricing," Mrs Brown said. "The older children will be involved in creating recipes.
"Their education is being enriched by that. It's not just their maths and English, it's their personal and social education."
"For many of them this will be the first time they've had an animal and know it's going to go on and be slaughtered," she said.
The scheme is said to have received the backing of the majority of the parents, who have been placed on a rota to feed the pigs at weekends.
The pupils say they are aware of what will happen to the pigs.
Frank Platt, 6, said they had to be killed "so the humans stay alive for longer".
Molly Milburn, 5, said: "We want some sausages at this school."
The Vegetarian Society said it was good to show the connection between animals being killed and food production, but said the school was giving the children an "idealised version of how food gets to their plates".
"Just because your food has been given a name and been kept well, the animal is still being killed at the end," a spokesperson said.
The piglets, due to be named Ham, Bacon and Pork, are being raised by the 25 pupils at Peasenhall Primary School.
Teacher Sarah Brown says the children will look after the pigs before sending them to a local butcher.
"We've discussed that we're going to feel very sad," she said. "But they've all said 'we like eating sausages'."
The pigs, which are a cross of black and Gloucestershire old spots, were born on a farm in nearby Sibton and will be delivered to the school next week.
'Education enriched'
The pupils, who are as young as four, will be involved in "every stage" of the pigs' journey to the plate, from making a home for the pigs to marketing the meat.
"They will be involved in designing labels and thinking about how we could sell them, including the posters and pricing," Mrs Brown said. "The older children will be involved in creating recipes.
"Their education is being enriched by that. It's not just their maths and English, it's their personal and social education."
"For many of them this will be the first time they've had an animal and know it's going to go on and be slaughtered," she said.
The scheme is said to have received the backing of the majority of the parents, who have been placed on a rota to feed the pigs at weekends.
The pupils say they are aware of what will happen to the pigs.
Frank Platt, 6, said they had to be killed "so the humans stay alive for longer".
Molly Milburn, 5, said: "We want some sausages at this school."
The Vegetarian Society said it was good to show the connection between animals being killed and food production, but said the school was giving the children an "idealised version of how food gets to their plates".
"Just because your food has been given a name and been kept well, the animal is still being killed at the end," a spokesperson said.
OfA's suggestion to Peasenhall Primary School
How about teaching your children that:
1. Animals deserve our respect
Animals are sentient and conscious living being and are part of the complicated web of life on earth to which we all belong. Just like us, animals have the right to peacefully co-exist on this planet, to enjoy their live, to lie in the sun, to have friends and a family with own children.
Sadly, this right to a peaceful life that is worth living is being denied to most farm animals. They are often deprived of all that is natural to them, they live short and miserable lives right from the moment they are born till the day they are being sent to slaughter to become food for humans.
But given that humans are herbivores (not carnivores, nor omnivores), they don't need to eat the flesh of animals to survive or to stay healthy and thus raising animals for food is not only cruel, it is unnecessary!
Sadly, this right to a peaceful life that is worth living is being denied to most farm animals. They are often deprived of all that is natural to them, they live short and miserable lives right from the moment they are born till the day they are being sent to slaughter to become food for humans.
But given that humans are herbivores (not carnivores, nor omnivores), they don't need to eat the flesh of animals to survive or to stay healthy and thus raising animals for food is not only cruel, it is unnecessary!
2. Pigs are smart
Pigs have been touted as the smartest, and the cleanest domestic animals in the world. The phrases, “sweat like a pig” or “smell like a pig”, may come to mind.
To compensate for the lack of a natural way to bring their body temperature down, pigs seek out water or mud. Pigs rolling in mud may look uncouth, but they are actually being quite smart. The mud not only keeps them cool, but keeps biting pests at bay, and prevents sunburn.
Pigs are as smart as the primates
Intelligence research was done with pigs in the 1990s. One of the experiments was to train the pigs to move the cursor on a video screen with their snouts. When the pigs used the cursors again, they were able to distinguish between the scribbles they already knew, and the scribbles they were seeing for the first time. The pigs learned this skill as fast as the chimpanzees.
All species of pig are smarter than dogs, and capable of abstract representation. “They can hold an icon in their mind, and remember it at a later date,” says Professor Stanley Curtis of Penn State University, who discovered that pigs dominate at video games with joy sticks. Curtis goes on to say, “Pigs are able to focus with an intensity I have never seen in a chimp.”
Pigs are smarter than a three-year-old child
Other tests were done where the pigs were taught the meaning of simple words and phrases. Several years later, the instructions were repeated, and the pigs still remembered what to do. The same thing was done with different objects placed in front of them. They were taught to jump over, sit by, or retrieve the item. Three years later, they could distinguish between the items.
The studies also showed:
- Pigs lead complex social lives that behaviorists once believed to be true only of primates.
- Mother pigs sing to their piglets while they are nursing.
- They excel at video games that would be hard for a young child, and sometimes better than the primates.
- Pigs dream.
- Pigs have a good sense of direction, and can find their way home from long distances.
- They learn from watching one another.
- Pigs outsmart each other. One will often follow another pig to food before grabbing it away from him, and the pig who was tricked will change behaviors to reduce how many times it is tricked.
3. Raising animals for food contributes to world hunger and poverty.
It wastes precious resources and plays a major role in global warming.
There is more than enough food in the world to feed the entire human population, but still more than a billion people are going hungry and for this, our meat-based diet is largely to blame for because we funnel huge amounts of grain, soybeans, and corn through all the animals we use for food, instead of feeding starving humans. If we stopped intensively breeding farmed animals and grew crops to feed humans instead, we could easily feed everyone on the planet with healthy and affordable vegetarian foods. In addition to the inefficient use of grains, raising animals for food also wastes enormous quantities of precious water.
Every day 4,400 children under the age of 5 die around the world, having fallen sick because of unclean water and sanitation. In fact, five times as many children die each year of diarrhea as of HIV/AIDS. A third of the world’s population is enduring some form of water scarcity. One in every six human beings has no access to clean water within a kilometer of their homes. Half of all people in developing countries have no access to proper sanitation. Water is critical for life and for livelihoods and billions of people suffer from disease, poverty and a lack of dignity and opportunity because they have no access to this basic resource.
Ultimately, water is a shared resource and it is just not acceptable that wealthier countries use an average of 15,000 liters of water to produce just 1 kg of meat while thousands of children die because they have no clean drinking water.
Take this 6 facts:
Every day 4,400 children under the age of 5 die around the world, having fallen sick because of unclean water and sanitation. In fact, five times as many children die each year of diarrhea as of HIV/AIDS. A third of the world’s population is enduring some form of water scarcity. One in every six human beings has no access to clean water within a kilometer of their homes. Half of all people in developing countries have no access to proper sanitation. Water is critical for life and for livelihoods and billions of people suffer from disease, poverty and a lack of dignity and opportunity because they have no access to this basic resource.
Ultimately, water is a shared resource and it is just not acceptable that wealthier countries use an average of 15,000 liters of water to produce just 1 kg of meat while thousands of children die because they have no clean drinking water.
Take this 6 facts:
- worldwide, about one billion people suffer from hunger and about 8.8 million people die of hunger every year
- more than 70% of all grains reaped by humanity on the planet are feed to animals that we exploit in agriculture
- to produce 1 kg of meat, you need 16 kg of grains + 15.OOO litres of water
- on the surface, which is needed to harvest 1 kg of meat, could generate, in the same period 200 kg of tomatoes or 160 kg of potatoes
- 50% of water pollution in Europe are caused by factory farms
- the contribution of livestock to the greenhouse effect is more important as that of the entire global auto, air and waterway together
4. A vegan diet has many health benefits
Eating animal fats and proteins has been shown in studies to raise a person´s risk of developing cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, heart disease, and a number of other illnesses and conditions.
Men with early stage prostate cancer who make intensive changes in diet and lifestyle may stop or perhaps even reverse the progression of their illness, according to a study. A US study that looked at half a million people found that red meat and processed meat eaters died prematurely more frequently than other people.
An article published in Food Technology in October 2012 explained that plant-based diets either minimize or completely eliminate people's genetic propensity to developing chronic diseases, such as diabetes type 2, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.
Two themes consistently emerge from studies of cancer from many sites: vegetables and fruits help to reduce risk, while meat, animal products, and other fatty foods are frequently found to increase risk. Consumption of dietary fat drives production of hormones, which, in turn, promotes growth of cancer cells in hormone-sensitive organs such as the breast and prostate. Meat is devoid of the protective effects of fiber, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and other helpful nutrients, and it contains high concentrations of saturated fat and potentially carcinogenic compounds, which may increase one’s risk of developing many different kinds of cancer.
Vegetarian diets and diets rich in high-fiber plant foods such as whole grains, legumes, vegetables, and fruits offer a measure of protection. Fiber greatly speeds the passage of food through the colon, effectively removing carcinogens, and fiber actually changes the type of bacteria that is present in the intestine, so there is reduced production of carcinogenic secondary bile acids. Plant foods are also naturally low in fat and rich in antioxidants and other anti-cancer compounds. Not surprisingly, vegetarians are at the lowest risk for cancer and have a significantly reduced risk compared to meat-eaters.
Men with early stage prostate cancer who make intensive changes in diet and lifestyle may stop or perhaps even reverse the progression of their illness, according to a study. A US study that looked at half a million people found that red meat and processed meat eaters died prematurely more frequently than other people.
An article published in Food Technology in October 2012 explained that plant-based diets either minimize or completely eliminate people's genetic propensity to developing chronic diseases, such as diabetes type 2, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.
Two themes consistently emerge from studies of cancer from many sites: vegetables and fruits help to reduce risk, while meat, animal products, and other fatty foods are frequently found to increase risk. Consumption of dietary fat drives production of hormones, which, in turn, promotes growth of cancer cells in hormone-sensitive organs such as the breast and prostate. Meat is devoid of the protective effects of fiber, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and other helpful nutrients, and it contains high concentrations of saturated fat and potentially carcinogenic compounds, which may increase one’s risk of developing many different kinds of cancer.
Vegetarian diets and diets rich in high-fiber plant foods such as whole grains, legumes, vegetables, and fruits offer a measure of protection. Fiber greatly speeds the passage of food through the colon, effectively removing carcinogens, and fiber actually changes the type of bacteria that is present in the intestine, so there is reduced production of carcinogenic secondary bile acids. Plant foods are also naturally low in fat and rich in antioxidants and other anti-cancer compounds. Not surprisingly, vegetarians are at the lowest risk for cancer and have a significantly reduced risk compared to meat-eaters.
Please tell Peasenhall Primary School to drop this plan
and to teach their children something truly valuable instead!
Please take a moment to call or write to Peasenhall Primary School to let them know that what they intend to do sends the wrong message to young and impressionable children about how we should treat those who differ from ourselves and that there are many healthy and tasty animal free alternatives to sausages and meat in general.
Tell them to let the children grow vegetables and make recipes for them - it's less traumatic!
Contact details:
Peasenhall Primary School
Peasenhall
Saxmundham
Suffolk
IP17 2HS
Tel / Fax: +44 (0)1728 660296
Email: [email protected]
Headteacher: Mrs Kath Cook