To “make” my kids be vegan?

[Sarcy]

About 3 years ago I decided to become vegan, my two youngest are being brought up vegan. Whilst my 4 older kids made the decision for themselves. One of them decided about a year ago that he didn’t want to be vegan anymore, at friend’s houses or when he’s out with friends he’ll eat meat but at home I don’t let him. I’ve had a lot of people tell me I’m wrong for “forcing” my kids into this or not letting them backout easily. This isn’t the case but I made sure DS had truly thought about it before deciding not to be vegan. I’m just trying to understand what makes people think it’s wrong to raise children on a vegan diet, surly giving your children meat is much worse

Will those comparing a ham sandwich to the rape of prepubescent children, please fuck off?

You sure?

not really - But I bet within Hinduism and Buddhism you will find some adherents that eschew dairy products too.

But a new day is always a learning day, and this was fascinating

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_in_Hinduism

and

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_vegetarianism

...according to some sutras the Buddha himself insisted that his followers should not eat the flesh of any sentient being...

looks like that new research could see a lot of starving Buddhists then

neonyellowshoes - you've made me cry now. I wish I could be more like you. I regret making those comaprisons and hope my children go on to kill things too. You're spot on. Can't argue with brilliant minds like yours and I can only regret having tried.

Okkkkkkk....

See?

What?

Though I don't agree that giving your family meat is 'much worse' than feeding them a vegan diet I do think that people should be able to make decisions for themselves. Fair enough if you only cook and provide vegan food in the home but I don't see how you can truly 'force' someone to eat a certain way. Surely he has free will?

I'm a meat eater and I don't think it's unreasonable of you not to buy and cook meat or want it in your house. But I think items like eggs/yogurt/ cheese (possibly cold cooked meats?) etc should be available to your child that wants to eat it if they are old enough to prepare it themselves and tidy up after.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable not to want to make different meals according to the wishes of each member of the family, so for the sake of simplicity I think I’d say all vegan.

To muddy the waters there was a very interesting programme on Radio 4 this morning regarding the fact that plants have a complex system of communication amongst one another and are more like ‘who’ rather than ‘what’ and questioning whether in the light of such discoveries, whether it is ethical to eat them.

To all those advocating choice... we had a housemaid once who came from a rural area of a country where it is normal to eat dogs. Indeed, at her interview she told us that “cooked dog” was one of her specialities.

Now, should I have allowed her to cook dog in our house? Store dead dogs in the fridge? I would be very interested to hear some answers.

I would be prepared to try it. That said I draw the line at cooking pets, some animals once chosen for pet duties I find it hard to stomach the idea of eating. If bred/raised for it though they aren't far removed from pigs at all.

To muddy the waters there was a very interesting programme on Radio 4 this morning regarding the fact that plants have a complex system of communication amongst one another and are more like ‘who’ rather than ‘what’ and questioning whether in the light of such discoveries, whether it is ethical to eat them.

Well if you're starting with a stance that you can't eat anything sentient (we'll leave that definition vague for now) and it can be demonstrated that plants are sentient (see previous ) then as an individual, you're going to die. Especially if you view fruit and nuts as unborn sentient entities.

Reversing that kind of reductio ad absurdum suggests that it is alright to eat sentient entities and maybe the distinction between plant and animal is more arbitrary than anything else ?

Fully agree. Raising children on a vegan diet can't make them weak etc. In our family, we eat only vegan food and don't have any problems. You know, consuming enough proteins and fats is essential for kids. We're buying food as [url=oilscenter.com/candelilla-wax-vegan-flakes]Candelilla Wax Vegan Flakes[/url] online and having breakfast all together .

Fully agree. Raising children on a vegan diet can't make them weak etc. In our family, we eat only vegan food and don't have any problems. You know, consuming enough proteins and fats is essential for kids. We're buying food as vegan flakes online and having breakfast all together .

You cannot force anything upon anybody, when they get older they make their own choices. Explain why your Vegan, etc and leave it there. The more you force, the likelhood they are to rebel and go the opposite way is higher.