To think it’s not right to bring a baby up as a vegetarian?

[veggiesup]

Surely a baby/child should have all food available until they can make their own decisions?

@Ohhelpicantthinkofaname " Even by 9 or 10 years old a child can make a choice up to a point and should be allow to try foods their friends are eating if they want."
I assume the same applies to schools giving Jewish children pork?

I don’t t think we necessary need to eat meat, a veggie diet is fine.

but a vegan diet is far more restrictive and much harder to get what you need from. There’s a lot of evidence out there which indicates it’s not ideal for young kids. If adults want to choose it for themselves then that fine, but kids shouldn’t be forced to be vegan.

religious beliefs to me are a bit different to life style choices. But after a certain age, an age where they can make an informed decision, if a Jewish kid chooses to eat pork that’s up to them.

Friend's kids cubs group had a minor issue with a vegetarian families kid only having a jacket potato at bonfire cook out.
The other kids give him bits of their sausages as potatoes were small and not ideal for roasting (delivery cock up).

Vegetarian mum provided kid with his own items to cook at the next camp out.

How is a religious belief NOT a lifestyle choice?

I guess you could argue that it is, but it does feel different.

@Ohhelpicantthinkofaname So you've said that a child should be able to make their own dietary choices at 9 years old. Well before Bar Mitzvah age.

Jeez you’re a pedantic one aren’t you. My point is so long as the child understands the choice they are making they should be able to eat what they like. If the parents feel very strongly then they need to be instilling their values into their kids in a way which makes the kid wish to go along with it themselves. NOT forcing the kid to abide by their wishes against their will.

will the world really end if a kid eats half a sausage off their friends plate at lunch at school?

I personally wouldn't put my child on a vegetarian or vegan diet. In terms of choice - I don't think children can really make a true informed choice. The majority of people eat diet based on what they been brought up on.

Don’t be silly. The parents are always choosing for the child, whatever the food being consumed in the household. Giving your young child meat is a choice just as much as not giving them meat. And a more environmentally conscious one.

Lots of posters with limited world views or chips on their shoulders.

I'm neither a parent or a vegetarian, but I'd think it was odd if parents who were veggie fed their kids meat! As long as the kids are getting a varied diet, and they don't freak out if later the child eats meat, that's fine.

I would worry about veganism though. I've got osteopenia (early stages of osteoporosis, already had 2 broken arms in less than 2 years 😪and i havent even got osteoporosis yet. Orthopaedics have already confirmed that bones can be more brittle at this early stage) and have to take calcium and vitamin d to prevent further bone density loss. I'd worry this could be worse if I didn't get these as a kid from dairy products and fish. But I assume decent parents would look into this.

I regret that I wasn't given a choice about whether to eat meat in my early years, but I was able to make an informed choice when I was a young teenager and have been vegetarian for the last 35+ years. I was entirely able to make a choice that wasn't based on the diet that I had been raised on, so why wouldn't my dc be able to do the same?

You are making choices for your child either way. In some cases, that is an active, considered choice. In others, it will be a case of simply following the societal default without having given it a second thought. I know which type of choice I think is better.

As it happens, my own choice as a teenager led my mum to reconsider her choices too. She went veggie shortly after I did and now wishes that she had thought about it earlier!!

There are anumber of interesting studies that have found a link between milk consumption and increased risk of osteoporosis, due to the milk "leaching" calcium from bones.

https://iphysio.io/osteoporosis/

So I think while additional study is necessary, it doesn't necessarily factor that milk and dairy is always healthy for bone strength.

People literally chop baby boys foreskins off and you're worried about them not being fed the flesh of a dead cow?

Bit dramatic.

I'm vegetarian but do feed my children meat simply because they're fussy eaters. I really do want to get whatever nutrients I can in to them. If they ate a varied diet I'd happily feed them vegetarian meals. My vegetarian diet is much more varied abd balanced than their diets. I just wish I could get them to eat what I eat!

@Ohhelpicantthinkofaname Interesting that you aren't prepared to answer the question. If you'd give a vegetarian 9 year old meat, would you give a Jewish child pork? It's quite simple and not pedantic at all.

Couple of interesting points from the article I linked above about dairy / osteoporosis:

"A 12 year long Harvard Nurses’ Health Study found that those who consumed the most calcium from dairy foods broke more bones than those who rarely drank milk. This is a broad study based on 77,761 women aged between 34 and 59 years of age."

And

“Consumption of dairy products, particularly at age 20 years, was associated with an increased risk of hip fracture in old age. (“Case-Control Study of Risk Factors for Hip Fractures in the Elderly”. American Journal of Epidemiology. Vol. 139, No. 5, 1994)."

And

“The countries with the highest rates of osteoporosis are the ones where people drink the most milk and have the most calcium in their diets. The connection between calcium consumption and bone health is actually very weak, and the connection between dairy consumption and bone health is almost non-existent.”
– Amy Lanou Ph.D., nutrition director for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, D.C.

I think you’ve misunderstood me. At no point did I say “I” would give a child anything. then you keep going over the same thing to try and, well, I don’t know, force a point, trip me up. I’m not sure on your agenda tbh.

my point originally was that if a kid at school wanted to eat something that didnt agree with their parents beliefs then why would ofstead care. Also that once the child was of an age to make an informed choice then their choices should be considered before the parents beliefs.

please stop twisting things. It’s very annoying.

Absolutely

Load of bollocks 🙄🤣

Butcher meat isnt*

Yes quite literally 🤮

Yes it is - read the WHO link provided