Veggie kids

[Jonesey1972]

What do people think about bringing children up as vegetarians?

[proudmom135]

It's a good idea to raise veggo kids but it will be better if we let the children choose what they like. We shouldn't force them if they don't like it. But we just have to explain to them the benefits of vegetables.

[YesMum23]

I have been raising my 3 year old vegan from birth.

[Jonesey1972]

Yeah me neither... But thank god she's put us right.

[Iggi999]

Callie is on the wind up, ignore.
I've always said mine could choose meat when old enough, one is nearly 9 but I don't feel any desire to let him get a big mac (about the only meat he'd want), and I definitely don't think he knows enough yet about the source of his food to make an informed choice.

[VinceNoirLovesHowardMoon]

Being vegetarian is a choice
Eating meat is a choice
Keeping kosher is a choice
Eating halal is a choice
Eating fast food is a choice
Eating macrobiotic is a choice

We all make a choice about how we will feed our kids. None of them are inherently better or worse than others, as long as requirements for healthy physical and mental development are met.

Fwiw my son is raised veggie, as was I and my 4 brothers. We are all completely fine in health terms and happy with the choices our parents made.

[originalmavis]

Well I think the meat eaters got in a few good shots too.

I don't really give a rat's what anyone else eats and it's pretty bad firm to pass judgement on what other people choose to eat or not.

[eloquent]

Love the assumption that all meat eaters have only manufactured chicken nuggets etc.
Feeling superior because you don't eat meat is hilarious. It's a choice you're making, doesn't make you a better person.
The sanctimony on this thread is astounding.
Thanks to all those veggies/vegans who aren't like the above.

[puglife15]

"Forcing a choice"? Surely a child who chooses to be veggie later in life would be more disappointed at being fed meat than the other way round... There is no
reason meat eating should be the default.

And do you think our ancestors who tore flesh with their incisors ate pig for breakfast, chicken for lunch and cow for dinner? No. They caught and ate meat occasionally.

Like MrTiddles I can't bear the scale or welfare standards of animal farming today, or indeed (which is of course related) the rate at which people consume meat.

We should be eating meat sparingly if we do eat it, and making sure it's the highest quality.

I really wonder if it's a case of "the lady doth protest too much" with those who talk about B12 and incisors...

[MoreCrackThanHarlem]

And to add...we are incapable of hunting and catching prey without the use of weapons and tools.

[MoreCrackThanHarlem]

Humans have incisors for ripping and tearing flesh & our eyes are in the front of our heads for the purpose of judging distances when hunting prey.

I don't even know where to start with this. Our teeth and jaw are actually much more comparable with a classic herbivore. We do not have the capabilities with our stomach and intestine to digest meat in the same way carnivores do. Indeed, we cannot eat many types of meat without cooking it first because of the risk of food poisoning.

My daughter is vegetarian and so glad I didn't give her meat as a child. She is 15 now. Both my parents are veggie too.

[DoreenLethal]

would never choose veggie for myself or my kids. Being veggie should be a personal choice not something forced on you by someone else. Children need the fat soluble vitamins contained in animal fats for proper brain development & vitamin B12 is found only in those.
Not true. Otherwise all vegetarian would be dead, no?

Humans have incisors for ripping and tearing flesh & our eyes are in the front of our heads for the purpose of judging distances when hunting prey.
When was the last time you hunted anything? [mothers meetings in an aisle in Tesco are not hunting incidentally]. Taking your 'argument' to it's logical conclusion, with many humans virtually unaware that meat even comes from actual living animals or how to even start to 'rip and tear apart flesh' [unless is it in the shape of a chicken nugget], I would suggest most of their nutrition would come from raiding allotments rather than hunting their own meat, should they have to fend for themselves in the event of a zombie apocalypse.

I think healthy meat choices should be offered.
Define 'healthy'. Draining your chicken nuggets on kitchen roll does not count here.

Fact: Most veggos when drunk will crave pepperoni pizza & Hamburgers.
I've been veggie for 32 years now and have neither ever had pepperoni, pepperoni pizza or a hamburger. When drunk [not often] I go for a lovely chip buttie. HTH.

[notamummy10]

Population suffer from a B12 deficiency yet only 3/4% vegetarians/vegans make it up.

If I'm a mother one day, my child will be brought vegetarian :)

[notamummy10]

You can get B12 from non-animal products; 40% of the worlds

[originalmavis]

I only ever craved a margherita pizza at Pizza Crola on Sauchiehall Street when drunk. Never when sober though.

[FeckOfffCup]

Fact: Most veggos when drunk will crave pepperoni pizza & Hamburgers.

Hahaha, is that a fact is it? Surely giving kids meat is also 'forcing' a choice on them? Before they can talk you choose everything for them and force all of their choices on them. So DFOD

I've been veggie for 16 years but DP is a meat eater and we only eat together twice a week so DS has veggie with me and some meat when his dad's got some. It works fine.
If me and DP were both veggie then DS would be too because we wouldn't go to all the effort of cooking a separate meal that would then be thrown on the floor I think it's best to be relaxed about it, and they will make up their own mind soon enough.

[SpeakNoWords]

Callie so much ignorance and incorrect statements in your post, I don't even know if it's worth responding! Bad and MrTiddles have probably said it all tbh.

[BadDoGooder]

Oh and my highly intelligent, incredibly healthy adult DSD's are veggie, have been all their lives, as is nearly 4 year old DS. I haven't noticed any detrimental effects, at all.

[BadDoGooder]

And we are no longer subsistence hunters, who source & kill our own food, so the whole thing about the eyes & teeth is pretty much null now. The issue I have is with the environmental impact, factory farming, and the welfare impacts of large scale farming. Naturally, I do not begrudge subsistence farmers in developing countries the chickens they raise & kill for their teas.

And this^^

[BadDoGooder]

Callie your opinion is not born out by fact.
There are large parts of the world where vegetarianism is default, do you think all those children are malnourished?
B12 is only absent in vegan diets btw, and is easily replaced.
Why is meat eating the default? It is as much a lifestyle choice to "force on your children" as vegetarianism or veganism, it's only part of a food geoup, not one on it's own ffs.

My DDad has been veggie for 40 years, DP for 30 and me for 20, not one of us has ever craved meat, drunk or not, and neither has the many many friends of ours who are veggie/vegan, so where the actual fuck did you get that little "fact" from?

Spend 5 minutes on the internet reading, and get educated please.
Stop conflating personal opinion with fact.

[MrTiddlestheFatCat]

And we are no longer subsistence hunters, who source & kill our own food, so the whole thing about the eyes & teeth is pretty much null now. The issue I have is with the environmental impact, factory farming, and the welfare impacts of large scale farming. Naturally, I do not begrudge subsistence farmers in developing countries the chickens they raise & kill for their teas.

These are my own personal convictions and beliefs though, and I think that's the first time I've ever written it down. I would never lecture someone on their choices, so I don't see why people decide to weigh in on the fact I'm not using my natural body functions & how my children will be deprived. I am fine and very rarely get ill or upset stomachs for example.

Not aimed at you callie btw, just come against this a lot in general.

[MrTiddlestheFatCat]

Most veggos when drunk will crave pepperoni pizza & Hamburgers

Er...This has never happened to me or any other veggie I know...but its a 'fact' apparently so okay

[CallieG]

I would never choose veggie for myself or my kids. Being veggie should be a personal choice not something forced on you by someone else. Children need the fat soluble vitamins contained in animal fats for proper brain development & vitamin B12 is found only in those.
Humans have incisors for ripping and tearing flesh & our eyes are in the front of our heads for the purpose of judging distances when hunting prey.
I think healthy meat choices should be offered.
Fact: Most veggos when drunk will crave pepperoni pizza & Hamburgers.
My ex DH had a mate whose wife ran a rigid veggo household, their DD would throw her Tofu, Burgul & Tabuli lunch in the bin & buy ham & chicken sandwiches with her pocket money from the canteen. HE used to go "Surfing" with my DH on Sundays, all you can eat Pizza Hut on the beach surfing, where he would consume 3 large pizzas worth of BBQ Meat lovers, Pepperoni & seafood Marinara.

[KissingFish]

Surely if we don't want to force a lifestyle choice onto our children we should all be bringing them up as vegetarians until they have a choice?

None vegetarians can and mostly do eat everything a vegetarian eats and then eat meat also so if they chose to become meat eaters then their choice hasn't been compromised. If that makes sense?

We're not vegetarians and our kid eats meat but I have always thought this when people are saying it's wrong to bring a child up as a vegetarian.

[Soraya81]

I was brought up as a vegetarian with my whole family being veggies. I however succumbed to the peer pressures of McDonalds and BK as shit as they are along with other influences as a child, so I ultimately made the choice to eat meat. As an adult I still eat meat, but I don't eat/cook red meat so my husbands screwed when it comes to a nice roast lamb or a medium/rare steak! We eat a lot of veggie meals as a family and white meat and I wouldn't deter my girls from wanting red meat or to be a vegetarian when they're grown. It'll be their choice, but as long as I'm buying the food and cooking their meals they'll get what they're given! 😉