My son the Activist. (18.09.06)
Today we needed to go shopping. Now I am pro small local business and the local market. I like to buy from and support the local farmers when I can. But it’s not always possible. So today we went to a large out of town supermarket. I don’t like them but I accept that they’re useful and aren’t going to go away in the near future.
So we watched the Meatrix the other day, all 3 of us. Mummy (37) son (6) and daughter (3). It got my son thinking and sparked off many discussions on farming and factory conditions. Now, he is home educated and just beginning to read. He’s mostly self taught with guidance from me and I am incredibly proud of him. So, as we walked round the supermarket (lets call it Sainsco, no, Tesbury! for sake of argument) Anyway, we were wandering round Tesbury choosing shopping and son pipes up "That says Nestle, we don’t want that." He knows what the Nestle logo looks like so I agreed and we chose something else. Next aisle and it was a sauce for making a stir fry later on this week.
"No, not that one!" Huh, why? We get that one because you like it? "It’s in plastic, can we get this one in a jar. Then we can recycle the jar?" I love this child! He got a huge grin from a woman walking past at this point.
Chicken next.
"This one says Organic. It’s been happy. I don’t want to eat a sad chicken." He got a small round of applause from a family nearby. He said similar about the cheese and milk. He wants to have milk and cheese from cows that see the sun and get to eat grass.
Then we hit the fruit and veg. "What does value mean?" The reply from the Tesbury worker nearby was an eye opener. "It’s the stuff no-one else wants." I wonder if he was meant to say that? Ah well, I won’t tell if you won’t! So, organic apples, spuds and carrots. Then they both wanted bananas. Quandry here and a discussion on the differences between Fair Trade and Organic. We went for Fair trade.
This is the way froward, educating the children to make the choices. In the car on the way home we chatted about how we can change the way Tesbury et al provide their services. If we always buy organic or fair trade then they will provide more and the prices will come down. If we, and everyone we know, tells them we don’t want factory farmed (sad) meat and dairy then better farming will be demanded. If we change the way we shop then others will follow. We can change the world, but only a small step at a time.
Comments pasted from OP.
At September 18, 2006 8:03 PM, dottyspots said…
Sad meat
One up from R.’s “dead fish, dead chicken, (etc.)”
At September 18, 2006 9:43 PM, Sarah said…
It’s come from the animals in the factory farms in the Meatrix looking “sad” according to him. I love the way he has internalised this and is expressing himself LOUDLY in the right places.
At September 19, 2006 4:11 PM, ambernut said…
Brill, absolutely brill
What a fabby son you have.
At September 22, 2006 11:32 PM, simply wondered said…
son (3) ‘why don’t we eat at macdonalds again?’
me (suppresses ‘because it’s shite’)'err because I think they’re nasty to the animals in the food’
him ‘ah yes’. (all still dead, though)
ahh the eternal bourgeois choice: fairtrade or organic bananas - for me organic because there’s a chance neither product nor workers have been sprayed with carcinogens, and I think fairtrade, while a start, isn’t a patch on equitrade (it’s like degradable and biodegradable - or in the case of supermarket plastic bags NONE hurrah - and, while I’m on that, it’s odd none of the UK supermarkets have gone down the charging line when it’s pretty clear it works; come on guys - make a cartel and all go for it - ‘oooh no people might not like us!’); but more importantly and eloquently: ‘twenty times left, twenty times right’ - Can’t decide whether Lazytown is the biggest load of shite or a work of genius from Iceland. Go go go go go lazytown! and go Magnus who seems to be getting at least 6 fees from the show.
So the virus has spread from witchy’s blog - I can only hope it won’t get to mine. Dylan quotes on the other hand are always welcome.
At September 22, 2006 11:34 PM, simply wondered said…
PS you got traffic!!!!!!!!!
At September 22, 2006 11:40 PM, Sarah said…
Traffic??? Yeah, I noticed!!
Nice of you to drop by. Incidentally - Lazytown has my kids snacking on carrots and apples - works for me!
At September 23, 2006 3:30 PM, MamaZuzi said…
I am always amazed to find Mama’s who are so different from me but similar too. I live in Oregon but my son is 6 and my daughter is 3 — we should chat sometime… wish I lived in the UK with you - I’m an anglophile from way back (probably due to family history) but haven’t been there in AGES… enjoy your blog - more laterr.
At September 23, 2006 3:42 PM, Sarah said…
mamaZuzi - I have an “email me” link on the right hand sidebar - email me and we can see if we can hook up on some chat system or via a chatroom somewhere.
At September 23, 2006 5:37 PM, witchy-woo said…
Sarah? Give R a huge, big, squishy hug from me, would you?
And one for M as well.
May as well have one yourself while I’m at it
At September 23, 2006 6:12 PM, Sarah said…
Sure will hon - have one back.
At September 27, 2006 1:00 PM, simply wondered said…
my kids don’t snack (not even to lazytown) - don’t know why, they just don’t. my 3 yr old lives on fresh air and my 1 yr old is a dustbin (like me).
Nathaniel (3yr old) was walking past McDonalds tother day and much to the amusement of the tourists therein shouted ‘McDonalds ‘SGUSTIN’. And I don’t think I’d even said that to him. He’s only articulating a universally known truth, but he’s my boy.
At September 27, 2006 4:37 PM, Sarah said…
Both of mine need to eat every couple of hours or they get grumpy, so do I. I’d rather feed then an endless supply of apples and carots than bisuits and sweets.
At September 29, 2006 11:39 PM, simply wondered said…
lazytown will probably only incite No1 son to ask if he can dye his hair pink and wear a short skirt…
At September 29, 2006 11:42 PM, Sarah said…
And how is that a problem?
At October 01, 2006 10:40 PM, simply wondered said…
I’m sorry I draw the line at pink rings round the bloody bath - at least until he’s old enough to clean it himself.
At October 01, 2006 10:48 PM, Sarah said…
So use permanent dye
Comment by ethicallyspeaking — October 2, 2006 @ 7:51 pm