If you're vegetarian and your partners not - what do your DC eat?

[FuzzyLeaf]

I'm veggie and my partner's not, it came up the other day what we would feed our children (none yet), we couldn't come to a conclusion and I'm interested in what other people have done in regards to diet!

What do your kids eat?
How did you decide that or did they decide for themselves?
How did you explain eating meat vs not eating meat in a non biased way?

I was brought up veggie and have never tried meat or fish, I brought my kids up the same as DP was in agreement. I've always said they could choose to eat meat when they understood where it came from, and my eldest started eating meat at about 8. My DD eats a few meat products occasionally and has done since 7. I have no problem cooking meat for them, and they have a balanced diet. They mostly eat vegetarian though, as it's something I can cook for us all. 2/7 days meat probably.

I’m veggie, oh isn’t

Kids have meat and fish but only the ‘healthy’ kind usually - fresh fish or chicken etc. They sometimes have sausages but only as treats.

We usually use veggie mince for dishes but sometimes will do a beef one and I’ll eat something else.

We try and mix it up basically but have a slightly less meat filled diet than perhaps their friends

I just say ‘I’m vegetarian - I don’t eat meat or fish’ to them so far they’ve not asked why beyond me saying I don’t like it and when they are older they can decide what they eat too but children have to eat what they are told (as I did!)

My kids have never eaten things like burgers. When I've offered them, they won't touch them because they never had them as small children. I even tried making burgers once but they still wouldn't touch them!
My DD has never eaten a sausage either. My DD likes them occasionally as he tried them at birthday parties so we have them at BBQ's.

I'm a veggie but because I can't stand the texture Dp is a massive meat eater, and we have always given dd meat. She has eaten it since she was a baby, but recently aged 5 had been spitting it out and leaving it on her plate. She says at school she tries the chicken, beef etc but doesn't like it. So now she just eats what I eat through her own choice. Dp will never be converted though so I'll still be cooking 2 meals.

I am veggie and DP isn't.
The kids are meat eaters.
I cooked on veggie stuff and DP will cook meat things and do me a veggie meal.
The kids are young adults now (18 and 22) and have mainly a meat based diet.
I couldn't care any less about other people's diet.

I'm vegi and dh isn't. When do was born, he was vegi until he was about 4 and then wanted meat so I gave it to him. He's 18 now and went vegi again around 3 years ago Dd is absolutely a carnivore and will never go vegi

I'm veggie, DH isn't. I've always cooked a main dish that is veggie and then added some meat on the side for DH and the kids. Now they're young adults, funnily enough our 2 younger DDs are almost veggie and only eat the odd bit of meat here and there.

I didn't think I had the right to chose that for them when they were younger.

My personal opinion...
I think it's unreasonable for force a veggie to cook meat so if the veggie parent cooks every day then the kids should eat veggie meals.

DZh is veggie, I'm not. I made the decision to wean DD as veggie so we were all eating one meal. She is now 8 and veggie through choice.

I don't really mind having no meat (or very little) at home.

I'm veggie and DH isn't. My DS eats meat ....it's not my decision to make . I don't eat meat because I'm fussy not for any moral or ethical reasons.
I don't want to pass on my fussiness to my child

I'm veggie ( for 25 years now) my 6 kids are all veggie, the dad of 5 isn't veggie and he didn't care what they ate as long as he didn't have to cook it, he feeds them veggie food only, dc number 6 is just being weaned and her dad isn't veggie and doesn't live with us, I've made it clear she is veggie till she chooses different, I buy and cook all their meals, 2 eldest are of an age where I'd let them choose meat if they wanted but they are both repulsed by it, so far so good!

I cook veggie, their dad doesn't cook so at home it's mostly veggie unless they ask for meat, eating out they eat whatever they choose

I'm a vegetarian and my DH eats meat. I don't personally have a problem cooking meat, and cook it for the family... I just don't want to eat it. We often have veggie meals with a meat "side", and sometimes I cook two actual meals (meat and veggie). Sometimes DH cooks, mostly it is me as I enjoy cooking generally.

We agreed the kids would be raised eating meat on the basis that if they choose not to when older, they can just stop (as I did at the age of 11) whereas if you've never eaten meat it can potentially upset your stomach quite a lot if you choose to start eating meat. So we felt the best way to give them a choice when older was to let them eat a variety of foods in childhood. I am not particularly "fervent" about my vegetarianism so it works for our family. Obviously, for those who don't want to cook meat or are both veggie etc I can see why different choices would be made. At the end of the day, what's important is making sure your children have access to healthy food and you can do that with a veggie, vegan or omnivore diet.

I don't eat meat, but my husband does.

If I'm cooking meat and a meat free alternative (e.g. Roast dinner, and some kind of vegetarian pastry thing), then the kids get both on their plate. They can eat the meat, meat free, or both - their choice.

More often than not though, everyone eats a vegetarian meal - I'm chief cook and can't be bothered faffing on with 2 things 😅

Interestingly, one child is a meat fan and one isn't.

I am veggie. OH is verging on pescatarian. My DD is 2.5 and she has meals at nursery that are meat and I do give her some meat at home. Fish and ham mainly.

Personally I think if you are the cook then it’s perfectly reasonable for meals to be veggie.

But what about outside the home - kids choosing sandwiches in a cafe, birthday parties, nursery...? It would take a lot of active control to stop your children eating meat or fish then. Hence I do think it’s best to offer every food to them before they are 2 ish and let them gradually grow into their preferences

I second the gut thing if they’ve never tried meat and then gorge on a burger at a kids birthday they are going to feel very sick

Do raise your kids to know where food come from and how to be healthy tho

DC's eat some meat. But I'm newly veggie so they are used to eating meat. As a whole family they are eating less since I'm not eating any as I do the cooking.

Think I read something once about how tummies can react badly if meat is introduced later in life. May be rubbish.

I would feed our children meat as I think it's a choice for them to make when they're old enough, rather than for me to instil from birth.

But then you have made a choice for them - to feed them meat?

Dh is a committed carnivore OP. We have three vegetarian kids. There is no legitimate health reason for my children to eat meat, so why would he want them to start? Why does your partner want them to eat meat, simply because he does?

Far easier to start eating meat if they want to than to give it up. I find it very strange when vegetarians teach their children to eat something they don't actually need to show how "fair" they can be if they believe it to be morally wrong.

The likelihood is that we are all going to have to move towards a more plant based diet for environmental reasons over the next few decades anyway. The population is growing and we can't keep up the meat consumption. Much better to be a contented vegetarian/vegan than a sad meat eater missing your steak.

Think I read something once about how tummies can react badly if meat is introduced later in life. Maybe rubbish.

Only when you first get used to it. but I suppose that's better than at 6 months old. If you a try whole new food that you have never had for there is always a risk it might not agree with you.

DH is vegetarian, I am not. We discussed this before we had our DC, and they are not vegetarian. We don't eat a lot of meat at home, because we can't be bothered to cook separate meals and I am not good at cooking much meat, but they have it at school etc. I see it that DH made a moral decision not to eat meat but DC can make their own decisions. They are 3 and 7 and understand that daddy doesn't eat meat because he doesn't want to eat animals. I have never expected DH to cook meat for them, but he sometimes does.

Partner is veggie, I'm pescatarian but not massively bothered and quite happy veggie most of the time. Partner does all the cooking. We eat veggie at home - no meat in the house.

Children will be veggie because that's what we eat. They can of course try meat and fish when we're not at home.

My friends veggie mum fed her and siblings vegetarian diet when they were young and doctor convinced her to feed them meat as they were all ill and malnutritioned. It massively depends on an individuals body and blood type as well as their level of physical activity whether non meat diet will sustain them adequately.

DH is veggie. I'm not. DCs are veggie.
I believe a veggie diet is healthier, especially the way my dh cooks. At home we eat no meat amd grow our own veg. So there's no processed meat.
However, we do eat fish (so not actually veggie but pescatarian).
I have said that when they get to school age they can choose to eat meat outside the house if they want. At school, friends' houses etc.
I just think veggie is a better diet really.

I’m vegetarian, DH is not. All three children raised veggie. I couldn’t bring myself to feed them meat when it goes against my ethics. When we talk about it I say that if there were no other options (ie being washed up on a desert island!) I would eat it to survive but as we are fortunate enough to have many food options, eating meat is not necessary. We say it’s up to them (the older ones - 9 & 12) if they want to eat it now or in the future. They both say that they don’t want to - I realise that this might change, but am ok with them making their own informed choice.