Piglet vs. Child

The book I am currently reading, Omnivore's Dilemma, briefly discusses a proponent for vegetarianism. The author quotes the work of another author, Peter Singer's Animal Liberation: "Equal consideration of interests is not the same as equal treatment. Children have an interest in being educated, pigs in rooting around in the dirt". I considered this and later yesterday afternoon I gazed upon this scene in my very own backyard and realized no matter how compelling to some, Singer has lost his argument with me.




Clearly, Singer has never met children like my children. Actually I wonder if he has ever met ANY children. Ever. And yet my husband has been asking me, why do you let them do that? Why are the girls allowed to dig holes in the yard and fill them with mud? I wanted to respond with some witty homeschool mom comment ala Charlotte Mason about how they were learning their place in the world by interacting with their environment. Instead I told him the truth. They are quiet when they do this and they leave me alone so that I can actually think for several consecutive minutes before being asked to hose them off.