Raising your kids vegetarian.

[whatdoyouthinkaboutit]

Raising vegetarian children. It's something I feel strongly on. I'd like a more balanced view, hearing others' opinions. Discuss.

My friend raised her kids vegetarian she came home one day to them frying bacon

I'm vegetarian, husband isn't but we have a mostly vegetarian diet at home as we CBA to cook two meals and husband has on and off ethical dilemmas about eating meat (meat is cooked about once every 2/3 weeks for context). Toddler daughter and I are basically vegan due to her allergies. Her dietician is perfectly happy with her diet and said that hers is better than most kids. So I don't really care what other people think of it. When she's older she can cook herself meat and make up her own mind either way if she chooses to.

Vegetarian from birth here (with bouts of veganism as various ages) and I certainly never wanted to scoff party sausages (puke).
Both my brothers tried meat at different friends house and neither suddenly became ravenous carnivores who loathed their parents for denying them, infact neither of them liked it or ever ate it again...
Are you going to join in the discussion yourself OP?

I was raised vegetarian from birth. I'm glad I have been, as there are proven health benefits to a vegetarian diet. I also do not wish to be party to animal cruelty.

As for 'stunting growth', that is rediculous! My brother and I are tall, and have always been very healthy.

I think many people fail to realise that raising a child omnivorous is making a choice, the same as choosing to raise a child as a vegetarian.

Except that by feeding them meat, you’re not cutting off the majority of meals in the world.

Sorry but this is so funny 😂 The majority of meals in the world? Really? It might have been the case that in the U.K. fifty years ago it was hard to conceive of meals that weren't meat and two veg but in this day and age the range and variety of vegetarian food easily rivals and probably outstrips meat based meals. If you think the majority of meals in the world require meat you need to broaden your horizons because you're missing out on so much!

WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue

As a lifelong meat eater it's surprisingly easy and no problem at all feeding a child a vegetarian diet. There are hardly any restrictions in most restaurants or cafes and many alternatives are available that DS hardly notices he is eating something different. Sure, most sweets are off the menu due to gelatin but it's not a staple food children need!

I was warned that a meat free pregnancy would cause low birth weight babies. They ranged from 9lbs 15 to 7lbs 6.

I think its not fair on a child until they can make a informed decision to restrict their diet. My cousin made a decision to become veggi around aged 14. His dm (my aunt) is veggi but also a hp and believed both her dc should eat a normalhuman diet of veg and meat till they decided. She decided to be veggi. His sister is following a normal diet. My dsis is the same making sure my neice and nephew are having a normal diet despite being very strict veggi. They young still (under6)

There's nothing to debate. It's a perfectly healthy, balanced diet which meets all nutritional requirements

This. I know DS (6) will one day experiment/rebel, but that's fine by me. And of course I'm 'imposing my moral choices' on him. I'm his mother. That's what we're supposed to do. I impose moral choices I've thought carefully about. Like the fact that he doesn't live on sweets, or has to do his homework, and that he does household chores, and hasn't been baptised, or lives in a house that tries to use cars minimally.

I would love to meet the feral, amoral little bastards the PPs complaining about 'imposing values' are raising, since they've clearly managed to bring up their children without ever imparting a single value to them...

My gast is flabbered at posters responding to. 'Discuss.'

DH and I are vegetarian.. DD will be raised the same, because she'll simply eat what we eat.

If, when she's older, she chooses to eat meat then that's fine too but we won't be actively providing it for her whilst she's young - there's no need, she'll still get everything nutrition wise from the food we eat.

Im a vegetarian. Dh is not. Both dds eat veggie food and meat. Dd7 understands why mummy is a vegetarian. She told me that even though she likes animals, she still wants to eat meat because it is tasty. Totally up to her, even though I disagree with her.

Is it easy to get all the protein and nutrients you need without meat?
(Genuine question, dd dabbles in vegetarianism and I'm worried, I know I could look it up, but I'm sure you guys already have).

The most important thing is a heathy diet. Veggie, vegan, omni, pesci, carni are all fine as long as it's healthy

arethereanyleftatall

I find it pretty easy for veggie, certainly - like anything it's really all about variety. Lots of veg of different colours, tofu, beans and pulses, nuts, dairy, eggs etc. I actually eat a much healthier and more varied diet since I stopped eating meat.

My siblings used to eat meat out of the house and lied about it because even though it wasn't strictly disallowed they knew it would disappoint my parents. To the people who are making their children eat different foods to their friends remember that what they say to your face might not be how they're actually feeling about it.

But that can also happen when omnivore parents feed predominanlty healthy foods (of the sort that get widespread approval on here) to a kid who has a lot of peers that eat junk food. The kids relish the white bread, fizzy drinks and burgers they don't or hardly ever get to eat with their family, and don't talk about it because the parents will start pontificating about the foods, or say the friends' parents are irresponsible etc.

Do you feel strongly about it because it makes you feel inadequate?

Because, really, what a stupid thing to get upset about.

Interesting thoughts. Thanks. Parents both veggies but I felt strongly that children should be able to 'choose' to be veggie, as I had. But it's that circular argument isn't it; you're making a choice for them either way (veggie or meat eater). It hard not to influence or persuade when you have very strong opinions. But shouldn't the children be able to form their own opinion in their own time?

Do what you like with your kids, I don’t care so long as you’re not abusing them.

My kids are 4, 2 and 0. None has eaten 'meat' yet. They do eat dairy, eggs and fish. And everything else. I think on balance it's better. When they are school age they can choose to eat meat outside the house if they wish.

I’m vegetarian, my husband eats meat and the kid (18 mo) mainly eats fish! She’ll grow up eating a wide range of meat, fish and vegetarian dishes and can decide what path to follow when she’s old enough to care.

As pp have said, why is it wrong to 'impose your moral values' on your children? Don't all parents try to teach their children moral values? I believe it is wrong to hurt people and wrong to kill animals, so obviously I want my dc to have those values too. Why would I want my children to do something I consider morally wrong? Whether or not they do when they are older, I will not be able to control.

I'm a meat eater and so is DS1. DH is veggie. DS2 became a veggie when he was about 6 and decided that he didnt want to be responsible for the death of animals. It was his own decision and not influenced by DH (although obviously he knew his Dad is veggie). I've always supported his decision and over the years (he's 17 now) he's stuck to it and still doesnt eat meat. All my family are healthy and in all honestly he is probably the healthiest of all of us. Its a question of a healthy balanced diet whether you (or DC) are veggie or not. Meat is not really very good for us in the amounts we tend to eat it and the manner in which it is produced.

I’m vegetarian my kids aren’t,they can chose when they understand the pro/con
Don’t want to impose upon them.they also attend other folk house and eat what they’re given