Do you enforce your vegetarian life style choice on your children?

Answer 1

I don't have children but if and when i do it would depend on my partner. if my partner ate meat then there would be no reason to not cook it for my children too. but if my partner was veggie too then i would probably give them a veggie diet until they were old enough to decide for themselves. My family eat meat and when i decided to be veggie 12 years ago there was no issues and i would feel the same if my children wanted to eat meat. Being veggie is my choice and i don't expect others to agree. However I'm not sure you needed to use the word enforce. i doubt you would consider a meat eating parent giving a child meat enforcing it. But I'll just take it that it was a bad use of words :)

Answer 2

Both of my sons were raised Vegan ..not just vegetarian..for ethical reasons..the fact that vegetarians live healthier and 8-10 years longer then meat eaters say a lot ..my older son is healthy 6 foot ,intelligent and attractive..he is married to a beautiful vegan woman and they have a 2 year old vegan son ..my second son is 5 "10 also very healthy and strong at this point still dating many girls most of whom become and stay vegetarians... It would be as foreign for them to eat an animal as most people to eat their (or a neighbors) pet ..they never had a desire to eat animal flesh ...and I guess I won't get graphic but all the statistics back me up..when the younger one was in kindergarten he told the children what meat actually was and no one wanted to eat it ..children have no idea that their hamburger was once a living cow killed to make food for them .. tell kids the truth..see what happens....SO Enforce NO ....but for the right reasons no need to

Answer 3

Children tend to be moulded by what adults and their parents eat, so if it's what they know they don't miss meat. of course it will depend on what age the children are. If they've grown up with the diet, they're used to it and accept it as the norm. I'm a vegetarian, and i have no children, but i would probably bring them up as veggies, and they could make up their own minds when they were older and i wouldn't judge them.

Answer 4

No, I don't. Though my mum forced a meat eating life style on me and would go mad if I didn't eat the meat. I sooo wanted to be a vegetarian. I used to take the meat from the meat dish onto my plate and drop it to the cat when no one was watching.

I later became a vegetarian and my daughter( aged 10) said she wanted to try it too...I was worried because she was a really picky eater so I took her to see the nurse who explained about healthy eating (she wouldn't have listened to me!), and she's been vegetarian ever since. She's now 22. My son said he'd like to try it for a month...he's still a vegetarian (24), my husband also became vegetarian around about the same time....he says he could never eat meat now.

If my kids went back to meat...that's fine, it's their choice. Maybe me becoming vegetarian had an influence on my children but I never suggested they should do it.

Answer 5

no but only because i don't have any.

not sure why you're using the term 'enforce' - couldn't this equally apply to ominvore life style choice? as long as parents give their children a healthy balanced diet that's all that should matter - enforcing an oven chips and 'beef' burger diet would be worse nutritionally.

have big issues with the 'enforce' word... there are so many more worse things that could be 'enforced'...

Answer 6

I like the answers most people are giving. Enforce is really not a good word. My family eats what I cook...unless they want to fire me and take over the task :)

I eat meat..but wouldn't *enforcer* that on anyone either..

Though I desagree with the person who said our bodies are better able to break down veggies.

That is not true. Ever hear the expression *chew your vegetables*? Well, that is because our enzymes *cannot* break down the cell wall of veggies. In order to get the vitamins...we have to chew and crush them.

I don't care what people choose to eat..but I hate when they give misleading and unture information...

Answer 7

Yes I do. Actually, there is no "enforcement" needed. Children are naturally drawn to a vegetarian diet.
Our bodies are actually designed to better break down vegetable matter than Meat products.

Answer 8

Yes, yes yes yes. If what it is that i am doing for my children is for their health i must enforce it. It is just like telling your children to eat meat. You enforce it because you do it, because it is good for you therefor good for them. Whether parents know it or not parents enforce all of their likes and dislikes on their children.

Answer 9

If I were a vegatarian then when my child was young then yes they would follow my lifestyle of eating only vegetarian food, but as they grew older I certainly wouldn't forbid them from eating meat or other products. I personally eat meat, but I know and agree with the reasons not to eat meat.

Answer 10

Weird how this would come up in a section full of

"I'm 12, and want to be a vegetarian. My parents are trying to force me to eat meat. Help!!!"