What came first? The duck or the egg??

Mujnu decided to pop round to visit his cousin again ... with the gramps in tow of course. Although they brought an assortment of lunch with them I decided to go down the route of cooking my speciality scrambled omelette. A concoction I created on a day when my previously non-stick frying pan decided it really should have been born an obnoxious burn and stick to everything pan instead.

Anyhow ... I approach the dining table with a plate of my scrambled ommelette in one hand and a plate of warmed pitta bread in the other and Cream looks over and says "You're asking for it .. you expect them to make their own sarnies ... You'll have a mess on your hands."

Mum and Dad giggle in the background. But I nonchalantly totter over to the mischievous two now sitting eagerly at the table. I help Mujnu make his first one and even let him have a squig of ketchup with it. As I am helping Zoo make his, I hear a "mmmmm" from the other side of the table. "Pooopeee did you make it? ... It's nice ... mmmmm!"

I couldn't have been more pleased if Gordon Ramsey had suggested that I cook for him! So we sat and ate our food and Mujnu even picked out the five different types of veg in his plate.

Pepper, mushroom, broccolli, red onion, and tomato. "Do you know what else is in there?" He looks at his plate pondering ... "No, Pooppeee? What???"

"Eggs ..." and as I mutter this word, Mujnu's world seems to collapse around him .... Dad yells over ..."Now you've done it ... he won't eat eggs!"

"What's wrong with eggs??" I ask. "He's been watching Cbeebies and they have this trailer where a cute duck pops out of an egg."

"Pooopppeee ... duck's eggs?!?!? He is now staring at the half eaten sandwich in his hand in disgust and then looks up at me as though I have told him that I have just fed him Nemo fingers.

So here it is .... do I explain to a three year old that we humans use animals for labour and meat? That this is the way of the world and that we are no different to many other creatures here on God's earth. An endless system of recycling of sorts where we are fortunate enough to be the top of the food chain. I take a deep breath and do what any responsible parent faced with the potential of having a vegetarian child on their hands ....

"No!" I say laughing, "I didn't cook duck's eggs!!! I cooked .... different eggs!! The thought crossed my mind that perhaps I should mention the chicken that was involved somewhere along the line .. but Mujnu was sufficiently pleased with this answer to proceed to munch down his sandwich and then start filling up his second pitta bread too.