Disconnected

A few weeks ago, Daniel and I took the kids to a local dairy farm so that we could buy some raw milk for our cheese making endeavors and so that we could teach our kids more about where our food comes from. For some time, we've been concerned that our kids are too disconnected from their food sources. Sure, they know that milk comes from a cow; in fact, they refer to milk as "cow milk" as in "May I have a glass of cow milk with my dinner?" Still, we felt like they weren't getting it. Well, our trip to the farm confirmed our suspicions: they're not getting it.

Virginia in particular has a hard time accepting the connection between the animals she loves and the food she consumes. She, more than any of the kids, loved the cows at the farm. So, we were rather taken aback when we discovered that our trip to the farm initiated her boycott of milk--well, her boycott of "new cow milk" anyway.

When we returned home from the farm, I served the kids lunch and a cold, fresh glass of raw milk. Everyone enjoyed their milk except for Virginia, who upon taking her first sip, immediately spit her milk all over the table. She claimed that the milk was disgusting, that she couldn't drink it, and that she liked only "old cow milk." Of course I thought she was full of baloney, so I set out to trick her into drinking the raw milk. I lectured her on how disappointed I was that she would waste the milk we had just spent our good money on. Then I agreed to give her some old cow milk on the condition that she make no further negative comments about raw milk. And then I poured her another glass of raw milk. With a triumphant grin, she took the glass from my hand, thanked me, and proceeded to chug the milk. She finished her drink with a smack of her lips and a declaration that "this [was] the best milk ever."

It would seem that after all of this, I should not have been so surprised by my children's reaction to tonight's dinner, a roast chicken. Pretty simple. But these are the reactions I got from my kids, each of them independent of one another:

Virginia: Eeeew, a chicken! Did that come from a pig?

Jude: Is that chicken can throw stuff at us?

Ella: It looks dead. I don't want to eat a chicken soul.