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Do you raise your kids the same way you are, or do you give them the freedom of choice? Also, do you get judged a lot for choosing to raise your kids as vegetarians? I ask that because I have noticed the few vegan friends I have with kids often get comments from other people about raising their kids like that.
I let them eat anything and everything, but my 3 year old is a default vegetarian (I really can't get him to eat meat unless it's hidden within a pasta). So, I focus on making sure there is enough protein in his diet. The baby, of course, eats everything from high quality vegan muffins to the crud inside the floor vents (I can't take credit).
I'm not a vegetarian for ethical reasons, it's simply because I dislike meat and dairy products, so I don't think I face the same issues as an ethical vegan/vegetarian. I cook meat 3x a day or more for my family members.
I was vegetarian for 20+ years and now I'm pescitarian. I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet. I know that she will not be consuming cow milk. 20% of dairy farms in the US are reported by the FDA to have bouts of paratuberculosis. Who knows what the actual numbers are. My twin had crohn's and there has been some links between this TB and crohn's (bacterium found in removed colons of patients). So, given her genetic risk I'm just going to keep that out of her diet; probably cattle as well. I don't want her consuming just any old thing factory farmed. If she's gonna eat meat I want it to come from a local farm that we can visit. There's a bison farm not too far from here that my husband may check out.
As far as what other people judging goes, eh, I doubt anyone would blink an eye in my neck of the woods. Metro-boston is culturally eclectic so there's plenty of vegetarians as well as pesci's.
I am a vegan who has raised two vegan children - now 18 and 16. Yes, all kinds of people had something to say.
"You're not going to let them choose?"
Well, we all raise our kids in our homes with our morals. My husband and I believe that using animals for food is morally wrong. So, we didn't offer that choice any more than we did the choice to lie, steal, or cheat.
"Don't you think you'll stunt their growth/Don't you think they won't develop properly?"
Life stopped people from asking this. They were/are both at the top of their class, they're both athletes, and my son is 6/4".
I guess people will always have something to say. I just live and let live.
My wife is a pescatarian (sp?) and my career path has led me to hold positions where I was a manager in many food processing facilities slaughtering animals, so you couldn't ask for a more divided household
My kids are always offered choices and my 5 year old eats meat, no problem. My younger 3 year old doesn't eat much of anything but that's another thread.
We had a discussion before my kids were born on what we were going to do and decided that our kids will make their own decision and it's working out well so far.
I feed my kid what I eat, just like any other parent. When my kid is a teenager and out with friends, she'll eat whatever she likes, just like any other teenager. I don't get the issue?
Hubbie is a vegan but DS eats meat and dairy, like me. If he wants to be a vegan someday, he is welcome to do so. For now, he eats from food originating from animal sources and non-animal sources.
But the place we draw the line is with pesticides, hormones, etc. He mostly eats organic. So he eats animal products but we are more on the organic side of things. Hubbie draws the line with the chemicals in the foods. LOL.
In the olden days, the children ate what the parents purchased and cooked. Everyone sat down to the meals, lunches were the same for everyone as were breakfasts. This was the 60's and 70's. I suppose if I would have wanted to eat something else, I would have gotten the standard "when you have your house and you are supporting yourself............".
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