One step closer to becoming a vegetarian.

Today on the car ride home from tumbling class, Kael asked if we could take a trip and go fishing. A totally random question, as usual, so of course I wasn't prepared. But really, how harmful is this question, right?

K: "Can we go to the river and can you buy me a fishing pole so I can go fishing?"

Me: "Sure! We can go fishing sometime."

K: "How do you fish, Mom?"
If I was paying more attention, I would have caught the trick question.

Me: "It's very easy, Kael. You get a fishing pole. It has a hook, you put some bait on it and put it in the water..."

K: "What kind of hook? Is it sharp? What's bay-ate?"
I'm blissfully (ignorantly?) unaware of his thought process and continue to chatter on about how easy fishing is.

Me: "You need a fishing hook. It's very sharp so you need to be very careful (as I'm saying this I'm already thinking about how I'm going to keep Malia safe from Kael and his fishing hook) and bait is what you use to catch fish. It's stuff they like to eat."

Kael doesn't say anything, then: "What do you do with the bait?"

Me: "You very carefully put the bait on the hook and put the hook in the water and wait for fish to eat it. When they do, you will feel a tug on your fishing pole and you pull it up and you've caught a fish on your hook!"

He's quiet, thinking. Then he says: "Does it hurt the fish?"

DOH! CRAP! MOTHER...$%#@!!!

I don't know what to say. I can't lie and "No, no, getting yanked out of your home while on the search for food with a sharp hook through your mouth doesn't hurt a bit!" but then I can't tell him the cold hard facts either because what if he decides to stop eating fish, or MEAT altogether?!

GEEZ!!

Once again, my 4 year old catches me with my proverbial pants down. So I tell him: "It probably stings a little." And as far as I'm concerned that's not totally off base because I've seen pro-fishers catch and release on TV. Now I don't know if PETA approves, but I've seen them do that so I'm not a complete liar.

I don't think I've totally convinced him because he then asks if there's another way to catch fish without hurting them. An image of him with one of his bug nets in the shallow waters trying to catch fish and being the first to perish if he ever had a Blue Lagoon moment flashed through my mind but I quickly shake it away. I can't be distracted right now. The matter of keeping him on the carnivore side of meals is at stake -- I need to focus. So I ask him: "What do you think? Can you think of another way to catch fish without using a hook?"

He's quiet then he says: "Hmmm. I'll have to think about it, Mom. I'll tell you later."

Whew. I'm off the hook for now. But I will tell you we will NOT be talking about where hamburgers come from the next time we go through In-N-Out.