I don't want my kids to be vegetarian

[HowToTrainYourTeen]

DC (15 & 13) have decided they want to go vegetarian. I don't want to go vegetarian and neither does DH, so they'd have to have different meals. I/DH don't want to be wasting time making 2 different meals whenever we want meat or fish, and we don't really have space for 2 people to be cooking at once. WIBU to say no?

[quote timeforanewstart]@Campalumpa do you have a reliable source that states that
Also what happens to all the animals we do eat , do you think dairy cows will be kept by a farmer as pets if we all become vegan
I thought their was an argument for eating less not totally cutting out [/quote]
There are a huge number of sources that say we should give up meat - particularly beef / dairy. It isn’t hard to google this and look at the facts. And if people don’t want to eat beef then cows won’t be needed - farmers won’t keep them as pets. Less will be born as the human race moves away from meat - which it absolutely has to. I am not a hippy vegetarian, these are just plain facts. Watch the recent David Attenborough film on Netflix as a starter.

But Derxa is probably right - we are all doomed.
So fire up that BBQ and slap on a steak but when your kids are grown up and have kids of there own and look you in the eye and ask why you didn’t even try to give them a future when there was a chance that there could be one, have a think right now about what you could be doing.

How strange. Milk production in animals including humans works on supply and demand past the initial weeks. If you keep removing the milk, more will be produced. You don't need to give hormones. Like wet nursing in the past.

@Campalumpa i have read and ii is a bit mixed, do you not think all the diary cattle would also be slaughtered and farmland can't all be used to grow vegetables and grains
From what I have read I don't think its quite so simple as stop eating meat and all will be fine

@Campalumpa also please don't tell me to have a think about what I am doing as like I said it is really not that simple and its quite condescending really , a quick google also shows their are other thoughts and also many other things affecting the planet

Yes you're right - it's far more complex than giving up beef. Particularly pasture raised British beef. The vast majority of concerns raised about the impact of beef on the environment are based on CAFOs in the US and S America not Highland cows on hilly ground.

You can’t say no it’s their choice. They are old enough to decide for themselves. Why would you stop your child from making a healthy a moral decision

@timeforanewstart it's pretty solidly documented that widespread veganism would help significantly improve the environmental impact of us being around. Of course it is not a panacea but a huge improvement. I say this as a non vegetarian!

@Skyla2005

You can’t say no it’s their choice. They are old enough to decide for themselves. Why would you stop your child from making a healthy a moral decision

you can refuse to faff around and offer different meals, that's the point. If they are old enough to decide, then they are old enough to buy their food and prepare it - and I disagree that even a 15 year old is old enough for that.

You don't get to decide what is the "healthy moral decision" either - in your house of course, but not in other people's life!

@Tootsietootie but you can read for and against it , it isn't clear cut

I recommend a lovely cookbook called "The Flexible Vegetarian" which contains some great vegetarian recipes that can be adapted to include meat and fish. Maybe you could try cooking some of those recipes, and then you wouldn't have to cook two separate meals to keep everyone happy.

@katy1213

They can make all the moral choices they like when they're shopping/cooking for themselves. Offer extra mashed potatoes and cabbage - and see how long it lasts!

That’s exactly what my Mum did. I wanted to be a vegetarian from age 7. She finally let me at age 8. I was given the same as everyone else minus the meat... so extra veg to replace the meat. Now I’m an adult I eat a much more varied diet but never any meat or animal products. Funny thing is... my mum is now a vegetarian too.

You should be supporting them and presumably you wouldn't eat meat every single meal anyway, so you could cook on your meat free nights and your daughters could cook a couple of other nights while you add a dish of eg peri peri chicken to go with it, then maybe something like a taco night where you can have lots of small dishes of all different things so everyone takes what they want veggie/non veggie.

They are old enough to cook themselves fb they choose to eat differently to the rest of the household.

I once thought about being vegetarian as a youngish teen but DM refused to cook different meals for me and I had to sort myself out to replace the parts of the meal she was cooking for everyone else - it didn't last long!

I am not saying if we give up meat then that will solve climate change but it is one of the biggest contributors. And unlike decarbonising energy/heat/travel it is a relatively easy one to achieve. And a low cost one. And I would have thought this would be a gradual change so we wouldn’t be slaughtering all meat producing animals next Thursday

You are not unreasonable, it’s your house you cook what you want. When their buying and cooking their own food they can decided what to cook and what they eat.

@Campalumpa it’s not easy at all. What do you propose the farmers so with all their livestock were now suddenly not eating? Honestly I believe in choice, I choose to eat meat and you don’t. Why must the whole world bend to the likes of you.

It is not about my wishes - I am not an ardent veggie. But we all have to, it is that simple - we cannot both continue eating meat and have a future for the planet. I don’t judge people who do eat meat - I do occasionally. My original point was that having veggie children is a great opportunity to choose to stop eating meat.

I went veggie at the age of 14. My parents agreed to cook a veggie meal (or a meal where the meat was optional and separate) 2 days a week, and I batch-cooked large pans full of different things that I froze in single portions and ate on any day when the rest of the family was having something I wouldn't eat. It was fine. You shouldn't be trying to control the ethical decisions of your teenagers. You can balance your needs with theirs.

[quote HOkieCOkie]@Campalumpa it’s not easy at all. What do you propose the farmers so with all their livestock were now suddenly not eating? Honestly I believe in choice, I choose to eat meat and you don’t. Why must the whole world bend to the likes of you.[/quote]
I think we all have the privilege of being able to eat what we want and it's not ok for anyone to try and force someone else to their preferences.

I don't get that argument though, cattle etc aren't independently breeding, they're being artificially inseminated. Farmers just need to breed fewer animals. It's not as though everyone will stop eating meat overnight, leaving millions of animals who are eating farmers out of house and home whilst enjoying the countryside

I suspect meat eating will gradually become less popular, if not actively banned. It will be socially a bit not acceptable- like smoking, drink driving etc.

I think moving away from the mindset too many people have that a meal needs to have meat with it can only be a good thing for health and the environment.

You are not unreasonable, it’s your house you cook what you want. When their buying and cooking their own food they can decided what to cook and what they eat

So if someone cooks you a meal or buys you dinner, it’s perfectly OK for them to present you with food they know you dislike or won’t eat?

Because it’s their house, or they’re paying for it, so they get the say in what you eat?

Your children are people FFs. They have likes and dislikes. Refusing to feed them because they won’t eat what you want them to is bordering on neglect IMO.

Do you never offer the simple courtesy of asking what people fancy for dinner? Or do you choose and that’s it, no discussion?

Do you never make someone’s favourite meal simply because you know they like it? Or is it stuff everyone else, I’m cooking, my house, the eat what I say?

They are old enough to cook for themselves. Just get them to menu plan ahead so the ingredients can be bought and leave the rest to them.

Expecting young children and teens to shop and cook for themselves because you don’t like their food preferences?

Controlling much. Eat meat or you’re on your own.

If DH started refusing to let me eat what I like on the basis it’s his house and he pays for the shopping, insisting I only made meals he liked? I’d call that controlling behaviour at least. Verging on Domestic abuse.