veganism

[EmmaRay]

Me and my DH are both vegan and have been for our whole lives. We have a DD and a DS on the way and were recently talking to our neighbours about this. They then said that we were bad parents for forcing our beliefs onto our child. Are we??

I dont think you're bad parents if thats how you want to raise them. Are you in the UK? I only ask because if BF doesnt work out im not sure there are any vegan formulas on the mainstream market.

I do think once they get older you need to accomodate curiosity and not berate them for wanting to try dairy/eggs/meat/fish etc.

I think, give your children what you like.
Personally, I would raise them on a vegetarian diet to ensure they have enough protein.
Also, don't have any "forbidden foods", very young children will let you know what they need, you probably have to adjust their diet accordingly. It's also easier to adopt a position where you can say, this is what we eat at home, but at auntie nana or friend home you can eat what they eat.
Good luck!

It’s considered a suitable diet for all lifestages by the NHS so that’s got to be a good endorsement.
I am sure if you are both lifelong vegans you know how to create a healthy balanced diet. Lots of resources available for raising vegan children too.
The people who whinge the loudest about vegan children are often the ones who feed their kids utter junk themselves. No one bats an eyelid at a child eating chicken nuggets and chips several times a week, so it bemuses me that parents who feed their children a healthy vegan diet get vilified.
Of course any diet can be done well or done poorly, but for the most part I would hazard a guess as the average vegan child’s diet being better than the average U.K. child’s diet.

Perfectly possible to raise healthy vegan children there are thousands of us doing it in the U.K.

No you're not.

They will be able to make their own decisions about their diet when they are old enough, until then it is your responsibility to make sure they can eat healthily, which you will do, as the majority of parents do.

Ignore the rude neighbour.

You're more than fine. You know why you're vegan (as am I) whether that's for the environment, health or the animals. So why would you do anything different with your kids?

If you bring them up vegan at home, but don’t force them to be vegan when they get the choice of alternatives, say at school or at a friend’s house, then I think it’s fine.

Not at all! Its much better for their health! 😊