A little girl's tearful confession is going viral on Instagram this month after making thousands of viewers melt into a puddle of emotions. The video, which was shared by the girl's mother, Rose Hyatt (@roshyatt), was actually shot four years ago, when her daughter Clara tried to explain over dinner one night how eating animals deeply upsets her. But now that the mom has finally shared the clip with the public, it's gaining massive popularity online and sparking an interesting discussion about parental support and personal autonomy.
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Clara is already worked up at the start of the clip
The video appears to start midway through the discussion as an adult asks her to explain again why she's so upset.
"Because then, other animals like chickens and cows and pigs and other animals that get killed for food. I don't like that," she says matter-of-factly. "Because I like nature."
"Because nature is beautiful and animals are part of nature," the little girl continues.
After that, Clara squeezes her eyes shut tightly and starts to weep
And while her mother tries to reassure her that she will never force her to eat meat if she doesn't want to, Clara finds herself at a crossroads.
"OK, but I love bacon and chicken so I can’t decide if I should never eat them again or eat them," she says, while breaking down in tears once more.
In a calm and reassuring voice, Hyatt tells Clara that she doesn't have to decide right now, and her dad jumps in to remind her that she's "only five and three quarters" and therefore doesn't need to have all the answers yet.
Finally, her mom steps in to calm her once and for all
"You can decide on a daily basis," Hyatt tells her daughter. "That’s OK. Every day, you just — every meal, you just decide, OK? And mama and daddy will support that, OK?"
Pausing to think about this for a moment, Clara gets silent.
"OK," she eventually says, before making her final decision. "I never want to be fed another animal again. Either plants, fruits, but no animals."
In the background, her mom and dad are once again heard saying OK, and agreeing to follow their little girl's lead on this. Once that happens, Clara starts to calm down, then proceeds to pick up a green bean with her fork and continue eating.
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So far, the sweet moment has received hundreds of thousands of likes
In the comments, a lot of people praised Hyatt and her husband for their kind and nonjudgmental response to their daughter's decision.
"I love the way you support her," one Instagram user wrote. "You hear her and give her options to alleviate her sadness and emotions."
"What a supportive conversation," added someone else. "Supporting her emotions and the natural conflict without projecting your own agenda."
"This is a great example of validating your kid’s emotions," yet another person wrote. "It might seem silly or like she’s too upset about it, but it’s really nice to see her parents listen to her and support her needs and let her cry it out, she has that freedom to fully feel and express her emotions in a safe space."
There's no doubt that this kind of support can go a long way
Because when it comes to decisions like whether to eat meat, even children have a right to draw their own boundaries.
It's estimated that about 1 in 20 Americans are vegetarian — meaning that they don't eat any meat or fish, and sometimes they even avoid other animal byproducts. But while most of us tend to think of vegetarians as adults who made the transition later in life, that's not actually the full story.
Roughly 2 million U.S. children between the ages of 8 and 18 reportedly consider themselves vegetarian, proving that it's becoming an increasingly popular decision among people of all ages. And while some people make the decision for personal health or environmental reasons, others find themselves bothered by the ethics of it all.
Either way, the decision should be theirs — whether they're 30, 40, 50 … or even just five and three-quarters.
