Chicken Drumsticks

Ruth Ayres--this one is for you from one of your favorites.

Today at lunch for the first time ever we had chicken on the bone--chicken drumsticks, actually.

I could not have anticipated all the issues that would arise simply because we had to eat meat off the bone.

Several kids didn't understand that when you eat all the chicken, you don't save the bones and wash them like silverware. And you don't eat the bones. And you don't play with the bones.

One of my little guys was practically having a nervous breakdown over this lunch. I, on the other hand, was laughing hysterically.

This is mostly how the conversation went:

N: What is this?!?!

Me: It's a chicken leg.

N: What?!?! From a real chicken?

Me: Yeah, what did you think it was?

N: I thought it was a real drumstick made out of chicken.

*giggle*

N: This is a real leg of chicken?!

Me: Yes, honey. You can eat it.

N: But it has bones!

Me: I know, but you might really like the meat if you pull it off the bones.

N: What?!?! I don't think I like eating real animals.

Me: N, do you like chicken nuggets? Because this is the same thing, except it has bones.

{N gets help from a buddy "ripping" meat off the bone and tastes a microscopic bite}

N: Oh no. This is NOT like nuggets. I don't know WHAT chicken nuggets are made from , but this tastes like ALIVE chicken.

*giggle from everyone at the table*

N: I am never going to be able to eat animals again. And I probably won't be able to eat chicken nuggets again either.




Do they provide therapy for this kind of thing?