I think a friend gave my child gelatine in food

[yetanothernamechnager]

I am very upset with him mum thinks I am being unreasonable

Oh har har.
They dont follow any religion yet but are aware of and exposed to a broad range of religions and their teachings in order to enable them to make an informed decision.

How on earth from my post you extrapolated that my dc follow all religions is beyond me.

Are you always in the habit of taking post and randomlu adding in words to change the meaning?

^^that was to poopoo

I am not being rude but maybe your child actually wanted some Haribo?

I know lots of vegetarians (no vegans though) and not one of them has decided for their children to be vegetarians as they don't believe they should enforce that sort of decision on them. To be fair a few of the children don't particular like mean and actually prefer some of the substitute stuff but when they fancy something with meat (or gelatine) then they do.

I would never 'vegetarian bash' but I think it is the same with anything - there are things I don't like or don't agree with for myself but I ensure I give my children all the opportunities available to them without pushing my views too strongly on them.

I think YABU to expect your child to be vegan, at 9 a child can make their own decisions. My family was vegaterian when I was a child but we had the choice of eating meat when out or at friends houses. Ironically I now eat meat, but my little sister (she is 9) who has been brought up in a meat eating family meat obsessed step dad has been a self declared vegaterian since she was 4.

In a lot of cases, the children have decided for themselves anyway - away from the home even if not in it. I'm a vegetarian, my husband isn't. I only cook vegetarian food at home because I won't cook meat, but I don't object to him cooking it or to people eating it around me. So our family is used to eating vegetarian food without it being a big "ooh where's the meat" deal.

DS13 is a confirmed meat eater and that's fine. It's his choice. He doesn't really eat it at home though unless DH cooks.

DD6 decided about 3 months ago that she wanted to be vegetarian and so she is. She's stuck to it really well so far and asks if everything is suitable for vegetarians before she eats it. I've made it very clear to her that it's her choice and also her choice if she wants to eat meat.

Rilla - the reason why I don't eat Halal is because it causes unnecessary suffering to animals. Kosher slaughter is supposed to be a very humane way because Jewish people are prohibited from causes pain to animals. But that doesn't matter really I supposed because there's many cases where it isn't done properly. So yeah Kosher too then :)

fuzzywuzzy - I don't think so. Not all vegan and vegetarian food is halal. There's many things along the way in the packaging, transportation etc that can 'contaminate' and make it Harem, so not halal.
And I meant like meals at restaurants, ready made pizzas etc who don't always make it clear.

SchrodingersMew I don't think it's a case that people are "vegetarian bashers", I'm pretty sure it's more to do with parents forcing their kids to be vegetarian and not allowing them to have foods they don't agree with. There's a difference between meat based and totally banning certain things.

Yes it is exactly vegetarian bashing. Or rather being too ignorant and scared of something that is different to what you are used to to even try to understand it properly.

So do you not teach your children anything? So you don't teach them to be kind for example because that would be FORCING them to be kind. We all teach our children what we believe in.

Do you, by the way, let your children eat anything they want? Or do you think you might object to your dc sitting at the table eating a whole uncooked, unskinned cows head, including eyes and the bits hanging out the neck and then watch as they move on to cow bollocks, all pleased with yourself that you hadn't FORCED them not to eat something. Its the same thing. We all have our ideas and limits on what is acceptable to eat and we pass them on to our children.

That makes your PARENTS SHOULDN'T TELL THEIR CHILDREN WHAT TO EAT argument completely unthoughtout twaddle.

Meat based is clearly acceptable to you but no meat or meat products isn't. Good for you, but you don't get to say thats the way other adults should see things as well.

Isn't most shop bought jelly gelatine free, these days, anyhow? Marshmallows, OTOH: I know a few veggies who have been caught out by those.

I figure that by 9, a child is capable of making up their own mind about what sort of diet they want to follow. DS1 wanted to become vegetarian, a couple of years ago. He experimented, got bored of how limited his diet had become in terms of what foods he would eat that didn't contain meat and realised that he simply didn't like unprocessed meat. So now he eats ham, burgers and sausages, but if we're having a roast, he'll eat the stuffing but not the chicken. He also doesn't like cauliflower or spicy foods. Am I going to force him to eat them because I eat them and think he should eat the same? No. He's 8 and knows his own mind. I'm quite particular about the welfare of the animals I eat, so I'm not going to rush out and buy and cook any old crap for him (just as I would never suggest the OP cooks meat for her DS, even if he's not on board with being vegan) but I respect the fact that if I'm making chicken enchiladas or a chick pea curry for dinner, he's going to want something completely different and I'll probably shove a beef or veggie burger in the oven for him, instead.

Gawd, it's threads like this that make me think I wouldn't want to even allow Kosher-vegan-Allergic child in my house. Not personal against the child, but I just don't want the responsibility of having to police what they eat.

Think I'd have to get out a 3 page form full of disclaimers, getting all stakeholders to sign it, anyway, before thinking I could dare to offer a meal or even a snack.

ModreB Yabu. How dare you assume what your DC's choice will be in the future. You may be vegan, but what if your DC's decide differently

How dare YOU assume your children will be catholic, Muslim whatever. How dare YOU decide they will grow up to believe in equality. How dare YOU teach your children that's its socially acceptable to walk down the street with clothes on. How dare YOU assume your children will want to be meat eaters. And i could go on and on.

You clearly see eating meat as the standard and not as the alternative.

notactuallyme The animosity towards veggie parents raising veggie kids is so weird. Its almost like people want the dcs to rebel and fill their faces at greggs.

Ignorance and fear of anyone making a decision differently to them i would imagine.

poopoo when will you let your child decide what they eat? 10? 13? 16? For me when I was 9 I was ready to decide for myself what I would and wouldn't eat. I knew about the hidden meat in food and I also knew about the difference between free range meat and non free range. I think in 9 years of vegan/vegetarian eating a child knows what is in food and more importantly knows why their family doesn't eat meat/animal products.

I would like to wean my baby onto a vegetarian diet because I know how to cook vegaterian food better than meat and also I don't actually see a need for meat in the diet but my viking hunter Swedish Dp will be wanting to give DS meatballs as his first meal. I think we will compromise and only give the baby hunted/fished meat (moose, bear, reindeer, salmon) because then the animal has had a lovely life and also it is healthier meat. But if the child says to me when they are 3 they want to try a hotdog they can, I think it is a parents job to protect their children from dangerous things, so if DS wasn't to try dog poo when he is 3 i will say no, but I think it is wrong to teach children that meat is wrong when it isn't, we are built to eat meat.

SirzyTue I don't think its annimosity about raising children as vegetarian, it is the idea of forcing a child to be vegetarian that doesn't sit right with me. Being vegetarian is a personal choice and I think sometimes parents forget that, if a child wants to eat haribo or a hot dog when with friends then that is their choice.

Is it also their choice if they want to go out to play by themselves when they are only two or do you make that decision for them based on what you think it best? Is it their choice if they want to punch their little friend in the face or do you teach them that its not to right thing to do based on your own morals?

Why is is not ok (with you) you force a child to be vegetarian but it is ok to force them to be meat eaters? Because that more fits the norm? Because you are narrow minded? Because you don't like anyone not fitting in with what YOU consider to be normal?

Oh I have the opposite poopoo.

My youngest DS wants to become veggie. We are not a veggie family, but I am trying to help him. We are now at the stage of eating less meat (and more lentils . I have told him we can try to do it gradually)

I respect veggies and vegans, I think their choice is a better one. yet I eat meat. But I understand if people don't!

It is ultimately up to my kids to choose, I'd say at around age 8?

I thought halal & kosher slaughtered in the same way?

I absentmindedly gave a visiting veggie child Parmesan cheese - felt guilty but didn't tell the parents, the harm was done...

GnocchiNineDoors Oh har har. They dont follow any religion yet but are aware of and exposed to a broad range of religions and their teachings in order to enable them to make an informed decision.

Right so your children are being taught about religion in general but not being raised in one. So you are denying them the right to be baptised then or be known to Allah or whatever. Right. That's not letting them make their own decision is it, because you are denying them the right to START their life with a religion because YOU do not have a religion.

Just as a vegetarian child would start their life without meat because their parents don't eat meat.

Do you see? We all make these decisions for your children. Just like you have.

I don't understand why some posters think it's so outrageous to impose vegetarianism on your own children.

Surely if you are vegetarian because you think it's healthier then it stands to reason that you would want your dc to be healthy too. Likewise if you are vegetarian because you think killing an eating animals is morally wrong then it makes sense to apply the same morals to your dc's diet.

Seems perfectly reasonable to me.

I think at 9 a child is old enough to know if they want to be vegan/vegetarian or not.

DD's 7 year old friend has a serious egg allergy is totally trusted by his parents not to eat food with egg in. His parents are confident they have educated him about what he can and cant eat.

trip trap trip trap

This is why I raised the dcs vegetarian. DH is on board (meat eater, sometimes) as long as they stay healthy. Personally, i think we have evolved (in terms of food production, the way we live etc) away from having to eat meat ( the 'we were built to eat meat' argument) to stay healthy. I disagree with eating meat, I don't like the idea of eating flesh, veins etc, and I think that it would be hypocritical for me to have a strong belief that i don't then think my children should have.
The dcs have always been given treat food; chips, veggie burgers etc so don't have to exist on lentil casserole while their friends enjoy macdonalds. If they get haribo i swap it for white chocolate buttons. They ask nicely if they are unsure about something, or refuse anything they are offered if it contains gelatine.
For all that, it is not a massive 'thing' to us; we don't talk about it endlessly etc. They are very healthy; no colds, runny noses or general sickliness; less time off school than a lot of their friends. No one has ever (to my face) had a problem with playdates.
The only time i was extremely annoyed was when a drunk friend fed my three year old pepperoni pizza at a party (and crowed to me about how much he loved it). They eat ham substitutes, so wouldn't 'know' at three if something was or wasn't meat.

You can get veggie burgers in mcdonalds you know.

no you can't! sadly they don't do them; we have to get empty buns with a cheese slice and the tom ketchup etc!

Re the Halal thing. I bet you do eat it. Every school and every hospital uses halal meat, usually slaughtered in France, where there is a massive Halal industry. A lot of pub chains and restaurants use it too. The only public sector work place place that doesnt is the House of Commons.

I've complained about it, primarily because I don't see why I should have to eat meat prepared according to religious tradition. I also moan complain that if Halal meat is offered then kitchen utensils should also be segregated accordingly, other wise it is pointless having pork chops cooked in the same trays as Halal the following day.

and wimpey do a quorn burger, but it is cooked in the same oil as the meat ones . same as burger king bean burger.