How to get DS to eat goat?

[Blue Run Farm]

We now have three goats in the freezer. I have been cooking them and the rest of the family enjoys having our own fresh meat. Well, DS7 ate the meat just fine. That is, until DS4 announced that we were eating goat for dinner. Ever since, DS7 asks me every night what animal our meat came from and refuses to eat it if it is goat!

DS4, on the other hand, asks me *which* goat we are eating and is perfectly happy to eat them. He came out while we were butchering the two doelings on Sunday and happily watched. He loves playing with the goats, but is fine with eating them too. He also loves cleaning stalls, such a farm boy!

DS7 also told me he will not eat rabbit, when I was contemplating raising meat rabbits. Yet he is okay with eating chicken we raised from day old chicks and likes venison. DH says we should just tell him the goat meat is deer, because then he'll eat it, but I don't want to lie to him. I think it's important for him to know where his food comes from. But I don't want to battle about it either!

Anyone had this problem and resolved it? I really need him to eat the goat meat, it is fresh and healthy (and yummy) and I can't afford to buy meat when we are producing our own. Any advice/suggestions appreciated!

[beewench]

It's what's for dinner...eat it or be hungry? He ate it before so you know it doesn't taste weird to him...

I have a somewhat picky eater at home, he gets 2 "no thank you bites" of everything on his place. Meaning, he has to take 2 bites of everything on his plate and then he may eat his choice of what's for dinner. If he wants a second helping of something, it's another round of 2 no thank you bites. It works well for us!!

[pygmybabies]

I say the same thing, this is what we are having, its not like he doesnt like it, he already ate it. When he moves out or buys the groceries and cooks it himself then he can have something else.

[Donna1982]

Have you asked him why he doesn't want to eat them? Does he feel bad about it? My Bf won't even try it, gist milk it cheese. So I feel your pain.

[Alice In TX/MO]

I think a human being has the right NOT to eat what he doesn't want to put in his mouth.

I agree with you that lying is not the answer.

Just tell him that when your family has goat, he can make a cheese sandwich or peanut butter sandwich.

Escalating it into a battle isn't necessary.

[ozark_jewels]

When I was young, I had to eat two bites of a dish that I professed to "hate", then I could eat what I wanted. Eventually I started eating it just fine. If I "hated" it for a long time, even eating the two bites.....Mom understood that I really did hate it and wasn't just being picky.
But usually I started eating it just fine, as it was mental.
I agree, lying is a BAD idea.

[Goat Servant]

I agree that lying isnt the answer.
When my kids were little the 4yr old son hated eggs. From our own chickens no less. He'd literally gag on them so I gave up.
But one night there wasnt much else for dinner & it had to be quiche.
"What's for dinner?"
"Oh, we're having PIE!"
He got all excited about that & woofed it down. Didnt tell him for years.
He's always been a picky eater. There's more important stuff than letting food turn into a battle but I feel your pain. He's still not wild about eggs or goat meat & he's over 30.
One day he wanted milk for his son. It was all goat milk. The almost undiscernable smirk on his face was a disappointment as he turned to the faucet for water.
Shoulda whooped him.

[TroutRiver]

My parents live on the seacoast and we are good friends with a family of lobster fishermen - he brings free lobsters a few times a month. My younger brother really does not like lobster. Growing up, on the nights when everyone else was eating lobster, he would make himself a sandwich or find something else to eat. It was a little weird the first couple times, sitting down to a lobster dinner and he was eating a cold cut sandwich. But if he would rather eat that, we won't force him to eat lobster (plus, that means more for us!).

I would say, he can either eat the goat, make himself something else, or skip dinner. I think that's fair (provided that he's old enough to be able to find/make something else to eat)

[Tallabred]

My DD decided to be a vegetarian at age 13, well, she just would not eat what she could be friends with. At that time I gave everyone the allowance of not eating 1 item being served. That worked out great - I did not have to plan dinners around what everyone would eat.

A meatless dinner can be a good choice - but do not allow him to replace it with crap food(hot dogs or chicken nuggets)

[Catalytic]

I'm of the opinion dinner is dinner, and you can eat or go hungry. I do not run a restaurant or a smorgasbord, nor do I think it's OK for one person, who has eaten and LIKED something before, to make a sandwich.

I cook dinner, I do not cater to 7 different sets of taste buds. We usually have a meat, a veggie, and a side dish, sometimes salad. When I make salads, they usually have lettuce, tomato, onion, mushrooms, cukes, and radishes. I DO make them "to order," I know which kid hates which veggies and I make his/her salad appropriately. As for the other veggies, sides, and meat, tough, I made it, eat it or go hungry. It's not like I serve liver or anything totally out of the ordinary.

I have 2 extremely picky eaters, I myself am a picky eater, and my baby looks like he is going to be a picky eater. My daughter, one of the picky, "hates" chicken, but will scarf down boneless, skinless breasts and McD's McNuggets...guess what? When I cook chicken with bone in, she better eat it, and she's 17. When she is an adult, and no longer lives in my house, she can buy and eat whatever she wants. While she lives in my house, where I buy and cook all the food, she will eat it or be hungry.

[houndlover]

I had one kid who wouldn't eat rabbit, goat, lamb, or goat's milk. I was fine with that, her choice. She did the chores and didn't feel comfortable eating something she'd cared for. She'd make a PBJ, or something, she didn't ask me to make her something separate. I didn't lie to her and I never forced my kids to eat anything. She doesn't mind eating venison or elk, or beef when we buy a side. I never quite understood the punitive parenting style of "you do what I say or else". Kids are people with feelings, and if you don't respect them, they'll probably only pretend to respect you.

[Alice In TX/MO]

I understand the thought process of "I cooked it; you eat it." The change in my acceptance of that came after my grandson endured 2 1/2 years of chemo therapy. This process made us realize that, even in health, we don't know what other people taste when they eat things that *we* think are good. All taste buds are not created equal.

Eating is very personal. Forcing someone to eat something or forcing them to be hungry is a violation of my belief system now.

Your family may have different rules, and that's fine. This is just where we have arrived on our journey.

[CraterCove]

I go by the, you eat what is prepared philosophy--- however, I don't purposely make anything that gags my kids. I work very hard to prepare meals that everyone can enjoy. The choosing not to eat something because suddenly they know what it is and so it grosses them out? I cannot say I would be very sympathetic.

My eldest son went through a very picky stage and would take hours to eat anything, even stuff he liked. It really depends on your child how you deal with these things. Tactics and strategies that will work with son #1 will in no way work with the other two. They are different people.

Now things son #1 said he hated and would half choke and get very dramatic about eating he will ask for. It wasn't about the food for him. It was always about rocking the boat.

I just think talking with your son, finding the reason and not really swaying in your position is best. We make meals to meet our family's nutritional needs. PBJ does not equal a balanced meal. I would be firm but not just authoritarian 'eat this or else'. I really like the idea of two 'no thank-you' bites.

Just a side comment: Vegetarian at 13? I would take my child straight to the Dr and have them explain the rigors of puberty in great detail and how good nutrition at that period of time is essential and how difficult it is to get the appropriate amounts of all proteins and cholesterol (hormonal building block) on a vegetarian diet. Being anything but an omnivore for a human is an adult level decision. I'd no sooner allow my child to make such decisions for themselves than I'd let them quit school, work full time and move out!

[pygmybabies]

i understand you shouldnt have to eat what you dont "like" I would have hated if someone made me eat onions, I hate them, but he already ate it and didnt have a problem with it, so he is just trying to control this, but maybe he loves the goats so much he really hates the fact of eating them. I could understand that also.

[Bearfootfarm]

But one night there wasnt much else for dinner & it had to be quiche.
"What's for dinner?"
"Oh, we're having PIE!"

When my daughter was young, she decided she wasn't going to eat "quiche".
The next time we made it, we called it "cheese pie" and it was suddenly one of her favorite foods

[Blue Run Farm]

He is 7. He is a very sensitive boy and I understand that, I was/am too. It is NOT easy for me to hear the shot and then skin and butcher a goat I've raised, this is the first year we've done it because in the past I couldn't bring myself to do it. The thing that is funny is he doesn't pay that much attention to the goats. We've had goats his whole life so they are "no big deal" to him. But when it comes time to eat, he is bothered that they used to be "cute and cuddly" and I really do understand that. However, I am trying to provide healthy balanced meals for my family and we really can't afford to buy meat when we can produce our own. We are struggling to make ends meet and can't afford to waste good food. The two "no thank you" bites are a great idea and we have used that for things he really just didn't want to eat because he thought it would taste bad. But with the goat, he has a fit because of what it was. Oddly, I asked him if it bothered him that the rest of us are eating it and he said no, it was fine for us to eat the goats. He just doesn't want to. So it's not like he is heartbroken that they are dead and can't stand the thought of them being eaten.

He also won't eat rabbit. I offered to get a rabbit from the grocery store (Wegman's has them already skinned and butchered) and see if he liked it, since I have thought about getting some meat rabbits. He said he could never eat a bunny. So it's not even that he saw them alive, the rabbits at the store don't look like fluffy bunnies, if you know what I mean. He just has this idea that certain animals are cute and cuddly and certain animals are not. When I point out that deer are cute and cuddly (he even got to pet one when he was younger), and so are baby calves and chicks, he says it's not the same, they are just not cute to him. So it's totally a mental hang-up between what he considers a "pet" and what he considers food. This makes me sad, because I want my kids to understand where their food comes from and respect the animals that produce our meat. I don't want him to only eat meat that comes in a package/isn't cute/doesn't have a "face" (whether or not he saw it, he can picture a bunny face). I want him to respect and be thankful for the animals that have given their lives for us to eat. I'm not sure that I'm wording that right, but I hope you all can understand what I'm trying to say.

We do have a rule here. If you want dessert, you have to eat a reasonable amount of dinner and you must eat at least some of each food (meat, veggie, side). So he has gone without dessert when we have eaten goat (when he's known about it) and he cries, but I can't give him dessert when he didn't have a balanced meal and I don't think it's fair to make something separate for him. As my mom used to say "this ain't a restaurant" and I work full time plus take care of all the farm animals. I tell him I can't make him eat it, that is his choice, but if he wants dessert he has to eat at least a few bites. So far, that hasn't worked and I am really dissapointed. A few times we've had roast in the crockpot and he ate it right up, not realizing that it was goat because he didn't ask. But lately he asks every night. Meanwhile, my four year old DS is totally happy to eat whatever meat I put in front of him. It doesn't help that he has announced at the dinner table "Hey, we're eating Sweetie for dinner!" a few times, lol.

[Tallabred]

Not to highjack the thread but to a 13 yr old she was a vegetarian but she would eat what she could not be friends with so she did eat eggs, cheese, seafood and drank milk - That was not a vegetarian to me but she was happy with the label She is now 23 and still a pescatarian(sp?)

It sounds to me like you are doing fine with your son Blue Run - I couldn't eat Sweetie for dinner either - but if a chocolate cake was there for dessert I think that I could do it!

[CarolT]

I still despise foods that I was forced to eat as a child to this very day.

IMO, I got over prejudices about food faster when I wasn't forced to eat them. If he has passed over desert to follow his convictions, whatever the reason for them, it sounds like he's set on them. PB&J may not be the healthiest, but instead of making him eat goat when he's dead set against it, I see it as a viable option.

Also, JMO, but a some people with eating disorders say they started as a child forced to eat something they didn't want or made to clean their plate...

[Donna1982]

My Bf cannot be around can fruit cocktail or can raviolis (sp) without getting sick. He doesn't even need to taste them just the smell. I can understand your sons reasons but maybe if you sat down and told him this is why we have goats, its their job. I feel for you. I would cave in and feed him something else.

[wolffeathers]

Ask him why, I would be really interested to know.

Don't lie.

I think I would ask him why and try to figure out where he's getting hung up. If he was concrete in his not liking goat, after having tried it, I think I would let him have something else instead. I grew up eating what mom made and I understand, but there is obviously something here that he's hung up on and making him eat something that he's mentally hung up about is only going to push him further from the task you're trying to teach.

I think your response needs to based on the root of the problem the "why".

My inlaws went through a phase with their youngest(13) where he didn't like what the family had. My MIL being nonchalante would simply say, well make yourself a sandwich and clean up after yourself. He didn't like SOS and he went through a phase where he didn't like seeds(including nuts). If the family made brownies with walnuts/pecans, he either wouldn't eat them or he'd pick out the pecans. Today, he'll eat just about anything and has totally gotten past it. He never gave us a reason why, but the MIL method of 'make your own and clean your mess' seemed to get him past it. He was never allowed to make a full meal, just a sandwich or cereal.