Instilling love for animals in children at a young age
Tzu Chi Great Love PreSchool in Singapore is one of the few local preschools that provide vegetarian meals to children. The vegetarian meals prepared by the cook of the preschool are not only carefully planned, nutritious but also delicious. Coupled with the guidance from the teachers, children not only love to eat vegetables, they also understand the reasons behind adopting a vegetarian diet. With such understanding, the children take practical actions to protect animals and mother earth, thus nurturing the respect for the environment in them.
As one of the few preschools that provides vegetarian food for mealtime, Tzu Chi Great Love Preschool Singapore prepares nutritious and delicious meals for children every day.
Head of Education Services, Tai Nyeok Moi: We try to provide children with vegetables and fruits of five colours every day, hoping that the intake of different colours of food can provide balanced nutrition to the children. Because the brother in charge of cooking is also a chef, he knows how to season and make the dish delicious, so the children love to eat what he cooks.
Parent, Eileen Lau: Because I want to teach her to eat more vegetables as well, partly to protect animals and it is good for her health. She learned to love eating fruits here.
Having experienced the feeling of being locked up in cages, coupled with the stories told by teacher, the children realized the reasons to not eat animals.
Preschool student, Grissom: (What did you feel when you were inside the cage?) Very sad, because I love my daddy mummy. I tell them do not eat meat, I want to save the animals
Preschool teacher, Christine Yeo Liang Kai: （Tell them）this is not just for health, but also to protect earth and the environment. Another reason is to nurture the love for animals.
Student: I want to be a vegetarian because I do not want to kill the baby animals
By writing down their pledge to become a vegetarian, the respect for life has begun to sprout in the innocent minds of the children.
