to think parents shouldn't bring their child up vegetarian?

[Picante]

Unless for religious reasons.

Yes this is a thread about a thread but I think I was annoying too many people over there so I've started my very own for people to get annoyed with me here!

I just think it's mean. Meat is such a huge part of our culture and fair enough if you're old enough to decide that you don't want to kill animals... but children should be given all sorts of food in the early years, including meat, until they are old enough to make that decision for themselves!

'no dairy' - don't tell me they were so nuts that they wouldn't give the baby formula (if it wasn't breastfed)?

Because that's an example of people being as thick as two short planks, not an example of veganism. If this is true - and I have no knowledge of it beyond what you say - then those parents were so irresponsible their baby might well have been harmed in other ways, even if their diet was fine.

Plenty of people cut out major food groups and are much less well-informed than your average vegan or vegetarian. There are more and more people treating dairy or wheat as the food of the devil because food 'intolerances' have become somehow fashionable. (Beyond the people who have genuine food allergies, I mean.)

Back to the Christian Scientists - surely if a B12 injection was genuinely a matter of life or death, the doctors would have overridden the parents anyway? In the UK that would be perfectly legal.

If you eat fish you are a pescetarian technically, not a vegetarian

I am a pesce' but my kids eat meat. If they choose to be veggie later on that's fine.

I think veggie is fine as long as you get all the protein you need but really don't agree with forcing veganism on kids in the guise of it being good for them. I've known several vegan kids and they have all been very small with bad teeth - not a very good legacy to pass onto your kids for the sake of some ideal IMHO

I am vegetarian, and have 2 meat eating kids. In fact I would go so far as to say they are meat loving children - take after their father! Knowing how difficult I find it to have a balanced diet, and not to rely on vitamin supplements, particularly iron, I would never make my children veggie. A choice they can make when they are older. And yes, I would let my children eat most things, at least once, even fizzy pop, sweets, crisps, all those things!! Everything in moderation. My parents banned sweets in our house and all that happened is that we used to sneak them behind our parents backs. Anyway, I think parents are sometimes being unreasonable when they impose their food choices on children.

Do you insist on ethically reared meat Len?

You lot are making me hungry.

I'm on a special diet so not getting much of anything let alone meat. I dream of food! right now if I saw an animal I'd kill it, cook it and eat it on the spot.

I'm so hungry I'd be willing to rip a carrot out of the ground, tear its head off and devour it raw.

Blimey Onager, your diet must be restricted if you are lusting after carrots for a treat!

But, thelennox, EVERYONE imposes their food choices on their children, whether you feed them dead animal flesh, milk meant for another animal, eggs, or go for a plant based diet.

Yup, I'm sure ds feels very hard done by when I impose my views about not visiting the sweetie shop every day on him.

not read whole thread but just jumping in here at the end:

"Knowing how difficult I find it to have a balanced diet, and not to rely on vitamin supplements, particularly iron, I would never make my children veggie"

why don't you just eat a better diet? i don't find it at all hard to have a balanced diet being veggie
it's easy to choose a variety of foods that will give you all the nutrition you need - you can instead eat a load of junk of course, but you can do that with a meat diet

I just can't find it in me to get het up about this at all. If it's a healthy balanced diet, I couldn't give a toss if it's got meat or fish in it or not. Personally I happen to like meat although I don't eat it at every meal so that is how DD will eat too until she can choose for herself.

The only thing I dislike is vegetarian parents actively trying to put their children off meat. I witnessed a parent saying to a child who wanted to try the meaty gravy (I had provided onion gravy made with veg stock too) 'But that's BLOOD!' - the child said 'but I like blood' . Now that annoyed me because it's not actually true and the child was only curious. It irritates me just as much when I hear meat-eaters disparaging vegetarian food on spurious grounds.

Define 'spurious'

Ive been a vegetarian since i was 9 yrs old,ethical reasons and i find the thought of eating dead things revolting, but i do give my dd meat. She also has a lot of my vegetarian substitutes - lentils, beans and tofu. Ive been often anaemic in the past, and it was usually attributed to the fact ive never really ate red meat, even when young. Looking back it was probably due to my very healthy diet of chips, marlboro and cider . Ive learned to eat and cook more healthy things now within my diet, so i know vegetarian can be very balanced, but am too frightened not to give dd meat incase she gets anaemia. I do hope dd decides to become veggie in the future, as i do struggle with giving her meat, but also feel guilty if i was to restrict it, just incase it was the 'wrong' thing to do iykwim.

YANBU

I'm a strict veggie, and I feed my kids meat.

They have free choice of meat or veggie options. The meat tends to be sausages/fishfingers when prepared by me though as I wouldn't and couldn't prepare 'real' meat.

I have done this for two reasons -

1. They have hereditory medical tendancies towards iron and B vitamin deficiences so I do not want to risk harming thier health for MY morals.

1. It traumatised me as a child (even toddler) to be forced to eat 'dead animal', so it would be hypocritical to force my children not to eat meat.

I hate seeing parents force meat on a child who has a strong stance against it for whatever reason they are able or unable to articulate, and equally those who force thier child to be veggie. Vegetarianism is an extremely personal decision IMO.

yabu

I'm veggie. DH is pescetarian as are the kids. Should the kids want to eat meat in the future, that's their call

Why does anyone care what someone else feeds their kids? I couldn't give a toss

Just to explain about B12 injections...

They HAVE to be injected as tablets just don't do the job. Marmite(yuck) and egg yolks are excellent sources of it BUT if you are genetically or medically predisposed to B12 deficiencies as some people are (Coeliacs or pregnant women for instance) it can be very difficult to not become deficient on a veggie diet. I would definately allow my daughters to have the injection as it makes a huge difference to many aspects of life.

Please dont disagree with something that you dont understand!
I have been vegetarian since I was 9 years old.
I saw the film Babe (yes, go on, laugh ) and never ate meat again. Then stopped eating fish when I was 16.
I brought my ds1 up vegetarian for various reasons;
A) Because I was a single mum, and didnt have the money to buy veggie for me, and then meat for him,
B) Because you dont know what is in most meat products, OR where it came from
C) And because, when he is old enough to know WHAT the meat is, HOW is got from "Animal" to "meat" and where it is from, well then THEN he can eat meat.

Ds1 is now 4 and a half. I WANTED him to eat meat before he went to school (in 7 weeks) because I dont want him to feel different, or left out.
He has had a couple of ham sandwiches, maybe a sausage roll, and lots of fish fingers.
Before he eats it, HE ASKS ME what the meat is, and I say, its a cow/sheep etc, then he makes his decision. About two weeks ago, and out of the blue, he told me he wasnt going to eat meat anymore, including fish fingers that he loves. I was so proud. He made that decision on his own. He knew that the meat was an animal and didnt want to eat them.
My ds2 is 15 months old and has eaten only fish fingers upto now.

Aside from everything, it isnt even very good for you. Fish - maybe.
Beef? Nope.

Just because YOU are not vegetarian, please do not poo poo other peoples views to bring their children up like that. I am not a hippy. I am not a tree hugger.
IT ISNT WIERD ANYMORE!!!
Oh, and guess what - he is a healthy weight, healthy size, and the cleverest in his playgroup. I am not just saying that. THEY told me. He has known his alphabet, and counted up to 18 since he was just before 3 years old. Its done him no harm being veggie, and he has learnt to respect animals a bit more. And who know, he may think about where ALL his food comes from abit more (takeaways etc).

A bad thing? I dont think so.

Oh, and my "skinny, plae" children are on my profile. And I guess I was a "skinny, plae" child when I stopped eating meat aged 9. Look on my profile, am I skinny and pale?
Nope.

Hahaha, @ weak and listless!!!
OMG! Look on my profile, Am I, or any of my kids weak and listless???
Thats the most shallow and small minded thing I have ever heard!! How ridiculous!
Jesus, I didnt realise such stupid people existed any more!
So Quorn? Will this kill them? Is that bad protein? Get a grip.

applauds flubdub. Applauds own strapping huge children. Applauds self and ability to run long distances on a veggie diet to fundraise for charidee.

'The only thing I dislike is vegetarian parents actively trying to put their children off meat'

Horton, you've said everything I wanted to say in one short sentence

I think it is sad that we have got so far removed from nature that people don't understand where their food comes from and we have all the emotive talk about dead flesh. If you are brought up in the countryside on farms you don't see it as some sort of antiseptic Disneyland.
I don't have any objection to parents following any diet they please but I don't think they ought to be talking to vulnerable DCs about blood and dead flesh. At my farm shop you can see all the animals, a lot of people take their DCs to see them-I have no trouble at all explaining that the pig will one day be bacon. It is having a happy life and wouldn't exist if it wasn't going to be eaten!