Our daughter is turning 3 next month MasAllah and I am thinking about putting her in pre-K. My question is that hubby and I have different opinion as far as eating zabiah and non zabiah chicken. I eat chicken from american places but he doesn’t and now we are confused about which direction to take our daughter. she has play dates where her friends have happy meals from burger king and Mcdonalds and I just give her fries for now. If anyone else went through this issue what direction did you take and how did you decide for your child?
Re: Making decesion for your child
Well if she already eats non-zabihah than what's the problem. If she eats it with you or her friends than why can't she eat it at school?
Re: Making decesion for your child
It depends on how strongly you each feel about the subject. Before I got married, I also ate chicken/beef from any outside place, my parents never imposed that restriction upon us, as we are first generation born and raised here in the US. My husband, however, who came to the US as a teenager, does not, under any circumstances eat non-zabiha. So I changed my practices because I knew that when we had children, he would not want them to eat nuggets or burgers from mcdonalds, etc.
I've faced some tears and whining from my eldest son, and he gets a little confused when he sees his cousins eating out at fast food places, but honestly, it's not that big of a deal. He prefers popcorn shrimp and fish filet sandwiches anyway...lol!
Re: Making decesion for your child
she isn't eating non zabiah right now. I am sorry if my question didn't make sense
Choose zabihah... Believe me the kiddies aren't missing out anything with mcd or burger king burgers. Its all full of absolute crap so why even give her that option.
Re: Making decesion for your child
In the West, Pakistani/Indian Muslims make a big deal about Zabiha/non-Zabiha. In college, there was an Islamic scholar from Egypt (who probably knew a thousand times more about Islam than a regular Muslim) who told us that we should not make a big deal about it. My mother was also very strict about it until recently when, after her own research, she came to the conclusion that it was okay to eat non-Zabiha prepared by other Ahl-e-Kitaabs. I welcomed her decision, because it seemed an unnecessary restriction and somewhat annoying when you are always asking for special accommodation outside. Isn’t it enough that we take a strict stand on staying away from pork when 70% of what’s offered anywhere in the West is the “cursed swine”. :)
Besides we can’t really be sure as to how clean the Zabiha we buy really is (most animals are given antibiotics, growth hormones and animal feed in the West) or how dirty the non-Zabiha may be until we really do some research, which probably would be impossible.
You might want to stay away from fast-food as much as you can just because of all the synthetic ingredients in it as reported often.
Stay away from ground meats because they probably mix all sorts of stuff in it, unless you are sure that it is organic and natural and doesn't have pork products.
Re: Making decesion for your child
That's a tough one. That's a decision is you and your hubby should make. What does your hubby say?
but just from a health perspective "happy meals from burger king and Mcdonalds" is probaby the worse type of food to give her. Since she's only 3 try to give her healthier choices (fruits, vegetables, non processed foods) that will stay with her for the rest of her life.
Re: Making decesion for your child
With only organic and 100% halal meat I'd probably sound like an extremist but it's all about changing your eating habits for the good of you and your family's mental and physical health.
We eat meat only twice a week now because it's so expensive.
We eat only fish or vegi meals when outside.
I think sticking to only organic halal meat has totally changed our eating habits but it's a positive change.
Btw it was my choice and my husband totally supported me in this....I think you should support your husband too.
Re: Making decesion for your child
Choose Zabiha and impose that on your self as well. If you choose this and dont apply it for yourself, then there is no need as she will just get more confused when she gets older.
I probably wouldnt compromise on the "halalness" living in todays world, because honestly, you can get anything so easily. If your kid wants to eat at mcdonald, they can have the filet O fish burger and fries. I dont think kids "care much" what kind of burger it is, they are into the whole atmosphare.
Re: Making decesion for your child
^exactly!
Re: Making decesion for your child
in our case it is my choice what our kids will eat and what not ....... i eat zabiah only, hubby dont. we are not much into Mcdonald or burger king etc. .... but if we ever go there kids eat only fries . ....i m trying my best to teach them about self control *and not to copy others to fit in *.... altough in there teens they may deviate for sometime but at the end they will definitely return to their basics .....
Re: Making decesion for your child
I agree if she sees you eating non zabihah while she's asked not to at this age - she is going to have lots of questions.
Re: Making decesion for your child
in our case it is my choice what our kids will eat and what not ....... i eat zabiah only, hubby dont. we are not much into Mcdonald or burger king etc. .... but if we ever go there kids eat only fries . ....i m trying my best to teach them about self control *and not to copy others to fit in *.... altough in there teens they may deviate for sometime but at the end they will definitely return to their basics .....
This is another topic altogether, but how do you encourage your kids to express their individuality and not copy others? I keep telling my son not to be a sheep (following the herd), to which he replies he wants to be a sheep ... :(
Re: Making decesion for your child
I was born and raised in the US but have always ate zabiha meat. I think once I accidentally ate beef at my friend's house when I was like 5 lol. My parents were pretty strict about that kind of stuff (they're not extremely religious either), but I never felt like "OMG I WANT NUGGETS" when I went to McD's or anything. Kids don't really care - as long as it tastes good and they're with a bunch of friends doing silly things. =/
And also, like a lot of people stated...why would you want your kids to eat junk from fast food places anyways? You're much better off sticking to halal/organic healthy stuff.
Re: Making decesion for your child
^I've to agree with the above. I was raised the same way. My parents were strict about what kinda meat we were eating. And I honestly dont recall having the feeling "oh why cant I eat this or that?" ... I also think when you teach your kids and show them by practice they learn it easier than the rest and if everyone follows the same example it is easier for everyone ...