Do Kids Belong At A Meat Shop
Over the last eight years that my husband and I have been married, we've faced quite a few culture shock moments. Most of them happen when we least expect it. We just go about our day and then we find ourselves doing something we've done for years, only to see the look on our spouses face.Complete and utter shock.Or it's the other way around and we look at them wondering how in the world they don't realize how crazy it is.It gets even crazier when you have kids.About a year ago, my husband and I headed to our local Indian grocery store. We had planned out a few Indian dishes for the week and knew we needed to pick up spices and some fresh meat.We have taken our kids to this Indian grocery store dozens of times... Usually the Aunty or Uncle that works there gives them a sucker and they always try to find the good cookies.I knew they had fresh meat at this one, but I didn't realize how fresh.We went through the store and grabbed all of the groceries we needed and saved the meat for last. We walked to the meat section and I noticed they had a lot of pre-cut meat right up front. I assumed we'd pick from the meat in the fridge. My husband started talking to the guy about different cuts of meat and decided to order half a goat. The man then preceded to walk into the back room.
He walked back out carrying a goat over his shoulder.
Dead.Skinned.Baby Goat.My four year old instantly asked him, what's that? The man smiled and said it's a goat. Do you see his head? Want to watch me cut him up?
WHAT?
All I wanted to do was yell at this guy that just traumatized my four year old.Why in the world would you joke around with a toddler about a dead animal?! Right as I was about to make the biggest scene this guy has probably ever seen, I stopped and realized this was normal for him. He probably sees families come in all the time, children in their arms, watching this process happen.My husband even told me a story of him and his siblings in India. Him and his family had gone to Hyderabad for the summer. All week long, his younger brother and sister were playing with a goat. They had named it and started to treat it as a pet. One morning, they woke up to see it hanging on a tree behind their bungalow.An Aunty and Uncle were preparing it for dinner.As much of a shock as that was to them, they realized early on the reality of having animals in India.I watched my son the entire time. I was glued to his reactions to see if I needed to cover his eyes and run out of the store at any moment. Surprisingly, he was fine. While I was cringing at every moment, he was curious and then distracted by the cookies in the aisle next to us.This was one of those moments that was completely acceptable in Indian culture and a huge shock in American culture.He still goes with my husband to the Indian grocery store all the time and he still has just as many questions when he goes. The big thing I had to remember was just because this was something new to me, didn't necessarily mean it was a bad thing.I'll admit though... I still hesitantly watch their reactions the whole time!