Vegetarian kids....Is it wrong to force them?

Question

I am a long time Veggy (20+yrs) and I have a son who eats a balanced diet including meat and fish. I do refuse to let him eat McDonalds etc and explain to him why. Came back to visit friends in UK who now have kids and a lot of them make there kids follow there vegetarian diet. I believe this to be wrong no matter what you feel your children should be allowed to make basic choices with guidance and a 5 yr old does not know if he wants to be veggy or not. Nor does he know what to eat if he is lacking in certain minerals vitamins etc. I think this is bad parenting, no matter what your beliefs are I have no qulams of making my son a bacon butty if he wants one. Your opinion pls is making kids veggy bad parenting and pls no stupid answers although I know will get them.

P.S I was brought up a veggy kid and rebeled against when i was given the choice but then nothing was really explained to me then.

Answer 1

I think if kids knew what the *meat* on their plate actually was before they were used to eating it, they would not want to eat it in the first place.

If there is something that is wrong, I would think it would be filling a child's body with the carcasses of dead animals before they have the chance to decide if that is something they want to take part in... especially when they can get everything they need from a vegetation-based diet.

People have to do what they feel is best when it comes to raising their children, and what is best will vary from parent to parent. When the child is old enough, s/he can decide whether to eat animals.

:)

Answer 2

I don't think that going veggy is a problem at all.. But you can't just let him eat meat today, then you make him all-veggy tommorow. You can continuously add on more and more vegetables to you and your family's everyday meals, then, you make them tasty, and healthy as well, and slowly your kid will start to accept it. I disagree with the fact that being vegetarian makes you pale and weak, lethargic etc. I'm a vegetarian since I was 6 and I accepted it into my life without the need to force. Now, I'm a Tae-Kwon-Do Black Belt, I learn Taichi and I grow just like a normal kid. I am even a lot healthier then some of them, and I could say most of them in my community.

Just do it slowly, your kid will definitely put the thought away if you force or make him do it at once. Every child has different ways of accepting things. But I agree that being vegetarian is a very good lifestyle. As an example, get him a sandwich for school and then you can add in some vegetables like lettuce, carrot, tomato, etc. and a slice or two of bacon or ham, and cheese, whatever you like. You can even buy fake meat to consume, the taste isn't that bad as some people may say, it's quite good actually.

Just go in slowly, do not make him refuse at the start, then there will be a mental block in his mind, and therefore you shall fail in your later persuation or whatever it is that you do.

I hope this helps. ^^

Answer 3

I don't think letting a child choose what to eat is a bad thing, within reason, because, of course, you would not want to allow a child to eat a really unhealthy diet. There is nothing wrong with a child eating lean meats like chicken or fish. In fact I'm pretty sure that if you asked a pediatrician, they would say the same.

On the other hand, If it's your lifestyle, I don't think imposing a vegetarian diet on a child is wrong either, on two conditions: 1, that it is explained to the child that mom and/or dad believe that eating meat is cruel/unhealthy/etc. for whatever reasons, and 2, that whatever nutrition is lost by not consuming meat is compensated for with vegetarian-acceptable foods.

Answer 4

You're a parent right? You have the right to teach your kid or kids to eat properly. You might say what my Mom said to me when I was a kid which is
"You can eat whatever the heck you want when U are grownup.. as long I'm paying for it U gotta eat what I tell U!" Well I wanted to be a vegetarian but my Mom forced me to eat meat! Wrong or Right I don't know! I'm a vegetarian nowadays!
Much healthier too! While I was a meat eater I was getting sick alot, winding up in the hospital. Meat is an unhealthy food!

Answer 5

I don't think its bad parenting. You want your kid to be raised with the what you think are the beliefs that make sense. Obviously, once your child is a teen, he or she will make his or her own choices and if they choose to eat meat, there's not much you can do as a parent. At age five though, it seems like its no different than not giving your kid a bunch of junk food. And as long as you make sure you are clear on why you don't eat meat (I don't know what your reasons are, but if it has to do with ethics, then this especially applies), I think you are doing your child a much bigger service by keeping it vegeterian. And why not teach him as you go along about nutrition?
Yes, kids should be allowed to make basic choices, but as a parent you have the responsibility to guide those choices and set limits when necessary. When it comes to rejecting the suffering and slaughtering of animals, seems like its okay to say no to that, for you and your child alike.
Good luck!

Answer 6

I think parents always end up imposing some of their ideology on their children. They live with you and see what you do and think, so it's impossible to avoid entirely.

I think it depends on the age of the child. A six year old eats what you give them. You’re feeding and clothing and housing them, I don’t think you’re being abusive or controlling if you don’t give them a cheeseburger. If your six year old wants a cheeseburger it’s fairly certain there’s no deep philosophical reason behind it.

If your 12 year old child, however, decided they didn’t believe as you did, that would be a different matter. It’s like taking your kids to your place of worship with you. You teach them what you think in an open sort of manner, and as they get older and are more able to make their own decisions, encourage them to do so. Main thing is how you handle it when they get old enough to start thinking for themselves.

I do, however, think that when feeding young children a vegetarian diet it is wise to consult a nutritionist or healthcare professional to make sure they are getting everything they need.

Answer 7

ok, well to "force" your kid to be "veggy eater" I think is not that good. But if he is only 5 yr old then you should wait until he is older (between 14 and 16, or maybe a little younger depends on what you think is best) and say to him "If you want to eat meat then dont eat it in my house, I wont cook it for you, and I wont buy it for you. So if you want it then you will have to eat it some other place." And if you go to a resturant then do what my mom did, tell your kid,"If you want something with meat in it then buy it yourself." But you should encourage him to be a vegetarion instead of eating meat.

Answer 8

I don't think it's wrong. I was raised vegetarian; I'm pretty happy about it.

I have three siblings who were as well; they all 'rebelled' in various ways -- some less than others -- at various points. 'Rebelled' in quotation marks because there isn't much rebellion if the attitude is 'Go on then, you can have it if you like.'

It is absurdly easy to feed children a healthy and nutritionally balanced vegetarian diet. And it doesn't require fussing with 'meat substitutes' or anything unusual; most of those things were unheard-of when I was a kid anyway.

The idea that it might leave them weak/pale/etc is of course utter nonsense. I was more of a bookworm, but my siblings were pretty athletic. That anti-vegetarian scare-mongering ignores entire societies that thrive on widespread vegetarianism.

I can't conceive of how it would be wrong for a vegetarian parent to have a vegetarian child. What on earth would the explanation be? 'Yes, dear -- it's not good enough for Mummy, but you fill your boots!'

(Never mind that I understandably have _no_ idea how to cook meat.)

It is possible to do it in a way that's wrong: by not providing a healthy diet, obviously, which is easy for meat-eaters and vegetarians alike to do, and by making the kid feel morally superior. If you have a child criticizing other people's food choices, I feel sorry for that child.

Sure, kids should be allowed to make choices with guidance etc etc, but there's absolutely no reason to assume the default is an omnivorous diet and that going vegetarian should be the 'choice' one has to puzzle out.

There're loads of questions on here from teen-agers who want to be vegetarian but who're having a hard time going about it. It's far too easy to start eating meat. It takes some more practice, I think, to have a well-balanced vegetarian diet. It's usually healthier, so why not default to the healthier option?

"But in 1991, Spock himself embraced vegetarianism at the age of 88, lost 50 pounds and conquered chronic bronchitis. And in the latest edition, he urges parents to start children on the vegetarian road early in life because "when children develop a taste for meats, it is hard to break this habit later on."

"Children who grow up getting nutrition from plant foods rather than meats have a tremendous health advantage. They are less likely to develop weight problems, diabetes, high blood pressure and some forms of cancer," writes Spock."

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9806/20/dr.spock/

(I -- a dairy fan -- do think he went too far, but it's not a throwaway opinion from a random fool.)

I was also raised on more 'health food' than most people. White bread was mostly a mystery to me when I was small. Peanut butter was the fresh-ground stuff, not the supermarket junk with added fat, sugar, and salt. A treat was a home-made muffin, not a Twinkie. That's not to say I didn't eat candy like other kids; I certainly did, just not nearly so much of it. I was pretty shocked (still am, actually) when visiting friends and finding out that (1) people drank soda pop with dinner! and (2) potato chips were practically treated like potatoes; you could eat lots anytime! Don't get me started on those child-abuse sugared cereals...

The end of that is that I'm still thankful, in my 30s, to have a palate that tends to reject junk food and the less-than-healthy; I can do great things with eggs -- having had to eat at least one a day growing up -- but how to properly fry one in grease is still a bit of a challenge. The nutrition-free crap that makes up a lot of the Western diet is, to me, either disgusting and unthinkable, or an infrequent treat and not part of a meal I can eat without thinking.

Even better, I think, is the ability to cook really good meals that don't seem to have something 'missing' without the meat, and no reliance on processed soy 'meat substitutes.' When people go vegetarian in later life, they sometimes go overboard looking to 'replace' what I never tried, and the results can be pretty unappetising.

Sorry to be so long-winded. No, they are not bad parents.

Answer 9

For a 5 year old, I think it's up to the parents really.

You make decisions about your child's diet (not going to McDonalds), and you explain him why.
If vegetarian parents do the same, and make sure their child eats a balanced diet, I see no problems.

I'll make an exception for vegans. Vegan diets are not recommended for kids and not all adults manage to keep it up, either.
But that's not the case for vegetarian diets. It's perfectly possible to offer a balanced vegetarian diet, and parents who do so give their lifestyles on to their kids - just like you do with McDonalds.

So when it doesn't harm the children, I agree with you: A toddler can not decide what a healthy diet is, but its parents can.
I just sense there's a part of you that recons that a vegetarian diet is not good for kids. I think that that is where our opinions differ a little.

Answer 10

No. Just let them choose. i am a vegitarian kid but it gets hard sometimes because no one else in my family is. Offer ur kids healthy choices. If U have a farmers market or anything like that, there is usually a great place for vegan food that is delicious! Even if they still eat meat make sure it is grass fed and not from any of those meat producers (foster farms). GL