Fishing for Small Children

After a conversation this morning with Tom Buss, the redoubtable fly-fisherman, I've come to the conclusion that it isn't necessary to 'educate' young children on the killing, cleaning and eating of fish. A more valuable lesson, as Tom pointed out, is to teach them the conservation of fish until such time as you desperately need to eat them. Like the Apocalypse for instance.
Early in the Spring of this year, Heidi and I took Jamey and Arthur to a local pond where the catch is guaranteed. Though I tried to be discreet, Jamey observed me cutting his fish's head off and promptly exclaimed "Don't cut my head off!", which aroused some concern in my mind as to how secure he felt was his place in our family. Naturally I tried to fortify his sense of belonging and safety with reassuring words. However, my feeling is that words are weak when held next to the primal experience of seeing your (once trusted) father cut the head off of a small, defenseless creature.
As a result of that, as well as Tom's and my own experience as first-time fishermen, I now feel that is a mistake to assume kids must learn, on their first time out, what it fundamentally means to be an omnivore.
There will be time for that later.