Raised vegetarian and resentful?

Question

Anyone have vegetarian parents and resented them for the way you were raised?
I mean did you feel you missed out on turkey dinners or burgers like your friends were having(?)
Or, are you grateful they gave you a foundation for eating healthy?
Just curious if there is anyone with vegetarian parents and what their offspring have to say about it.
Have you experienced better health than your omnivore friends?
Talk to me.... sincere, honest replies only please.
Thank you to those of you taking the time to answer.

Should I have said both parents?
(I have a feeling there may be alot of moms that are vegetarian)

So sorry if I gave the impression I'm resentful... I became vegetarian many years ago... just wondering what I may encounter when/if I become a parent.

Answer 1

Interesting question.

My mother's vegetarian, and I remain pretty grateful for it.

My three siblings all eat a bit of meat; two only fish and the odd bit of chicken -- I'm the only one who never crossed over -- but none of us are the least bit resentful about it. My sister is (now) a big fan of fish, which she knows beats being a big fan of red meat, health-wise.

Re. "missed out" -- no. I thought the turkey and burgers were gross even back then. If you're not raised with it regularly showing up at home, boy, does it ever smell and look weird. Bonus points if the kid thinks of junk food as a bad idea, too.

I was sort of shocked when I was growing up by how much garbage most people eat. Not that soda pop and chips aren't vegetarian, but in my family, those things were rare treats, definitely not something regularly plonked down on the dinner table. I still prefer healthier stuff, and I'm _very_ grateful for that.

That said -- it's also convenient that most of the stuff I like is relatively mainstream. My mother is not a fan of 'meat subsitutes,' tofu, etc. The flakiest health-foody what-not we got were little bits of sprouts and wheat germ (which are considerably less 'flaky' now). Well, sort of. Regular peanut butter still strikes me as over-sweetened junk; there's something to be said for taking your kids to the health food store to grind your own. Etc.

There's a stereotype about boys having a harder go of being vegetarian as children, and that held true to some small degree in my family. One brother seemed to go through a fair bit of social pressure. We were allowed to try meat when we were young; he did.

'Better health than omnivore friends' -- hard to say, but it's not as easy for me to get fat, at least. The continued disdain for eating junk is a huge plus...

Side note: my father eats meat, but not that frequently. He was recently heard espousing the benefits of a vegetarian mother/wife to Mr Kmennie, interestingly enough.

Anyway. Missed out? Certainly not. But I think you need to raise vegetarian children with a fair amount of self-confidence; I was more proud than anything of else of stuff which made me 'different.' Though I did not, thank heavens, preach to other kids and give them a hard time for eating meat. That should be strictly discouraged even as you're teaching them why it's a good idea to be vegetarian.


Edited to add: a little squib in the paper today says "Packed lunches still unhealthy."

"Only 41 per cent of packed lunches had a fruit and 16 per cent a salad/vegetable."

I had forgotten that side bonus. I got great lunches... down to the point where if the sandwich had tomato, the tomato came in a separate container/bag so the sandwich wouldn't sog. No fruit or veg? I'm disgusted. I felt bad for the kids who had the meat-n-white-bread and a packet of chips.

Answer 2

Well my parents was no Vegetarian but after the 2WW was in Europe nothing to eat and my parents worked in an garden and their growing no meat!! I growing with lot green food and sometime meat but this gave me a better health and Good immunity. For 20 years I came to US and with the standard food my weight raised up too high. What was their to do??? I thought on my grandfather, mother side, he said "all nutrition is good, all splitting is poison, meat is in rotting process and humans eat it". This run in my Brian and needed a longer time to understand. It was time to lost the weight and live healthier than the most 60% obesity what you see every where. If some one said, the Vegan's or Vegetarian were "dummy's" or so, than he don't know what he talk, i am proud to find the reality and be an Vegetarian.

Answer 3

I was raised vegetarian from birth - I'm twenty-eight now. I've never been resentful, and now I am grateful for it.

As a child, I had plenty of opportunities where could have tried meat if I wanted to. It's not as if my parents followed me around the school policing to make sure I didn't use pocket change to buy a school lunch with meat. Or I could have tried something at a friend's house. I never wanted to though.

I did eat eggs and dairy though, so there was always an option for me to eat something pretty much everywhere I went. I think it would have been harder had I been vegan and then there generally wouldnt' have been anything, but I read an article by a woman who was raised that way, and her mom was very careful to keep track of what was going on in her classroom and send vegan cupcakes and snacks and vegan pizza for her to eat at classroom parties and such and along to birthday parties and slumber parties, so she said it was fine too since she was never left without a treat when the other kids got one.

Now I am trying to become vegan, and I am finding it really hard to change my eating patterns and get away from food that I've depnded on as staples. I'm grateful to my parents that I never had to do that with meat. If I wanted to eat meat, I could start at any time, but giving something up that you are used to and like is not at all easy.

Answer 4

I was not raised a vegetarian, but I am a vegetarian who is raising a child. I went veg a year and a half ago. My daughter is 11. I would never force my decision on my child. I feel it is a healthier lifestyle, but I was forced to do things as a child that I now resent, so I would never force her to adopt my own, nor anyone else's preferences when it comes to something like that.

I only cook meatless meals, however she is free to eat what she wants at school, at her friends house, when we go out, etc. If she asks, I will buy her lunchmeat or whatever. About half the time when she HAS the choice to eat meat, she chooses not to. She also almost never asks me to buy her meat. She showed an interest very early in knowing "what" her food was (cow, pig, etc) and she was never very interested in meat.

Anyway... that's how it works at my house. I don't know if she'll become a vegetarian when she gets older or not. I hope she does... and I think she probably will... but I don't feel that it should be my decision.

Answer 5

This isn't really an "answer" but I want to thank you for asking this question! My husband and I are both lacto-ovo vegetarians and parents to a 2 1/2 year old and 9 month old. They are also being raised vegetarian. We plan to be open and honest when they start to ask questions (age 4-5?) and allow them to eat meat away from home if they choose. It sounds like most of you are saying that you should be honest and not over-bearing with your child which are probably good traits for all parents to have!

Answer 6

I was not brought up a vegetarian but personally think it's wrong for parents to make you become a vegetarian/vegan right from birth. It should all be our own decisions. When I have kids they're going to eat meat until they're old enough to make a choice, either way I wouldn't love them any less.

Answer 7

This is about a family I know. The father was vegan and the mother was not. The elder son felt that he was not being 'cool' with his friends as they hung out at McDonalds and ate junk food, plus he used eating meat and junk food as a way to rebel against his father. There was more to it that just food and diet, because the parents didn't get along and they divorced and since the mother basically let them do whatever they wanted (with what they ate; she used it as a tool to win over the kids), and in Canada fathers are treated like criminals, they stayed with the mother and started eating the typical junk-food diet. Last time I saw them the kids were getting fat and were out of shape. The mother was HUGE (400lbs).

Answer 8

Don't be! Your parents apparently wanted the best for you since a vegan diet goes against the flow and is a harder lifestyle. When you become of age then you are free to make your own choices.
Addition: When you become a parent then you will try to make the best and informed desicions for thier interests. Oh my, there are a lot bigger problems for resentment issues than food choices!

Answer 9

I would think that the resentment would come in if your parents refused to allow you to make choices outside the house. I can think of a lot of things we didn't eat at home that others did, but that was because my mother was raised in another country. I didn't resent it at all, because they didn't really limit me, but I knew of people whose parents wouldn't allow them to eat something even outside the house, and they were very resentful.

Answer 10

my mom's vegetarian and she tried to make me be one too. i did resent it when i was a little kid because it felt weird being the only one of my friends who couldn't eat meat and always had to check ingredients on prepared foods. but when i finally realized that meat came from another living thing i was happy to be vegetarian (i haven't eaten meat for like ten years)