Yesterday morning I took my .22 rimfire out to some local farmland where I have permission to shoot small game. I had a good day and brought back four pigeons and five rabbits. In the early evening next door's kids were playing in their garden while I was skinning and plucking what I'd shot. My neighbour's boundry is a flimsey trellis with vines woven through the woodwook. On the other side the children (all aged around 8-10) had noticed what I was doing and took an interest; though showed no sign of revulsion. They asked me if what I was skinning was real. At this point I realised this was an opportunity to impart valuable a lesson upon my young audience. I confirmed what I was handling was real and that I'd shot them. I followed that by asking them if they knew where the meat they ate came from. They were unsure. I informed them it most likely came from a farm via an abbatoir, and I didn't pull any punches. I told them how the meat they saw on their table was killed and processed. I also showed them the organs I'd removed from the carcasses. I then showed them the gun and how it works. They were enthralled. Towards the end of my ad-hoc lecture their childminder called them away. After they'd gone inside she approached the fence and informed me that it's irresponsible to expose children to the stark reality of how meat ends-up on their table. I told her she was being absurd and it was genuinely irresponsible to shield children from the facts, however grissly.
I kind of expected a reaction from our neighbours over what had transpired and I was proven right. At around 8 o'clock both parents knocked on our door. To cut a long story short they weren't overly objective to what their children had been told and seen, but said they'd prefer it if I'd send their curious kids away in future.
Now, I realised what I'd done would provoke a reaction of sorts, and I affirmed that I believed what their kids had seen was a positive experience. To their credit they were polite, but replied with equal conviction that they believed it was innapropriate, although by then I was growing irritable at their naivity. I reinforced my position by reminding them I was at liberty to do whatever I pleased within my own property as long as it's within the law: it isn't illegal to eviscerate a dead animal. We parted on civil terms. But this whole episode got me thinking over whether or not my neighnours' mentality presides among the majority: meat comes from a little plastic tray wrapped in polythene. And should we allow that way of thinking/naivity to continue by 'protecting' them from the ugly facts/reality. I say that it should be impressed upon them from infancy how the meat they enjoy arrives on their table. What about you?
It is actually not your place to take it upon yourself to "teach" the curious kids about such things.
I don't believe that what you did is "actionable" in the sense of legal recourse or the like. Nor should it be. If I were one of the neighbor kids' parents, I imagine my reaction would have been similarly polite but equally critical and I, too, would ask you to send my kids home instead of "teaching" them.
Frankly, it's bad enough we permit professional educators in public schools (or even in private schools) to "teach" some of the things they teach without our specific approval. But those professionals, at least, have some guidance and standards. And there has been in place a process by which we can have collective input on what they may teach and what they may not teach.
There is no such institutional type "check" on a neighbor.
And you said it yourself. You chose not to hold anything back. You said,
I realised this was an opportunity to impart valuable a lesson upon my young audience. I confirmed what I was handling was real and that I'd shot them. I followed that by asking them if they knew where the meat they ate came from. They were unsure. I informed them it most likely came from a farm via an abbatoir, and I didn't pull any punches. * * * *
"impart valuable a lesson" = insert personal value system HERE!
"asking them if they knew where the meat they ate came from" =
choice to go beyond the more limited question put to you by the kids; a value judgment which was not yours to make FOR other people's children.
"I informed them it most likely came from a farm via an [abattoir], and I didn't pull any punches." = A choice to answer your own question is a value decision made unilaterally by you with the same inherent problems noted above. And you KNEW, unquestionably, that it was a values issue because you couched it yourself as a decision involving no pulling of punches. Again, that was not properly YOUR decision to make for other people's kids.
It might very well be that you ended up being a better "teacher" than some of the professionals. But that doesn't change the fact that you made choices that were not properly yours to make.
