A vegetarian child?

Question

My partners child from a previous marriage has been brought up vegetarian. Although his mother states he has a sufficient diet to compensate I think its wrong. He always seems to be ill with a cold and I think its much fairer to allow him to make his own decisions when he is older, what do you think?

Answer 1

as a nutritionist, i can only hope the childs mother knows how to feed the child with adequate protein to compensate her growing needs. veg diets can be wonderful for adults, but people need to be aware that all essential nutritients are met, especially with a growing child.she should check with a dietcian in the area to help guide her. a dietician can personalize the diet suitable for her age

Answer 2

It is his mothers choice how to raise her child. When you have children you can raise them however you want. Just because he always "seems" to be ill does not mean he is. Kids get colds all the time. Cold and illness are from germs, not diets.

The reason he "seems" to be sick all the time is because that is what you are looking for. Very similar to the old wives tale about full moons having more crime, you can find police that agree with this, but statistics show it is false. The only reason those nights seem to have more crime is because the person remembers them more because they are expecting crime with the full moon. When something happens they link it to the moon, thus thier beleifs are validated.

I work as a nanny to three children. They are sick all winter, it seems as soon as they get over one problem they have another.

When the child is old enough he can make his own decisions on the matter. Hopefully in the mean time you will not try and go against his mother by trying to convince him meat is good, etc. This will only cause problems between the his mother and father and the kid will be caught in the middle.

I also enjoy Al's double standard on issues. In another question posed by a girl wanting to go vegetarian and her mother was against the idea, he said children should not make thier own decisions on what they eat. Now since the issue involves the child choosing meat, the child should choose.

I think you should treat this like any other decision his parents have made, You wouldn't go about trying to change the childs religion if it were different from yours, or try and feed him views on how what he believes is wrong, would you?

Answer 3

i think he shouuld be alble to make his own descisions. the best way for him to be a vegitarian as a kid is to make sure he gets lots of proteins. u can do this by suppliments or just by throwing a little Tofu in with every meal. No worries, u cant taste it! Beans are a great source for protein too. Im a teen and am vegitarian and i am perfectly fine since my parents make sure that i always have some sort of proteiny food. if this kid does not want to be a vegitarian then i dont think he should be but if he is then he definitly needs to be eating the right amount in all the catagories of the food pyramid. you can always find protein in other places then meat. also, his being sick could be from an immune defect type thing, maybe not even diognosed. My friend has one of these and she is out of school at least 1nce a week due to her being horribley sick! shes not a vegitarian tho (well.. she is now but she wasnt when the sicknesses started). She has had these sicknesses since she was really little so she learns to just deal with them and then shell be better the next day (or sometimes two days) later. well, i hope alll this helped a little bit. <3

Answer 4

A sufficient diet is all that is needed for any person, child or adult, not whether it contains meat or not. Hundreds of millions of people grow up eating no meat, mostly those of Hindu religion, so most people are unaware of this.

If the mother doesn't feed the child properly, it isn't anything to do with vegetarian or not.

Answer 5

It all depends. Vegetarians often are more healthy than meat eaters. As far as him being sick, that could just be his predisposition. So long as he's getting the right amount of protein, carbs, and fat, and all the micro-nutrients (which many meat eaters don't get) he'll be fine.

Have you ever noticed how many nutritionists are vegetarian? They are proportionately more likely to eat that way if not as a lifestyle, then more often. I think that it says something when someones job is to study the affects of food on the body, and they eat a certain way. Just something to consider.

Answer 6

Being a vegetarian does not mean you have a weak immune system. You did say a child, didn't you? Children get sick from being around other kids that are sick, and when they don't get enough antioxidants to strengthen their immune systems.
I agree about allowing them to make their own decisions, which is what I do with my children. They were basically vegetarians for the first year or two of their lives but after that I allowed them to choose to eat meat,poultry and fish if they desired. I wouldn't force them to be a vegetarian just because I am.
That is a touchy situation b/c he is not your child and it is your mate's and his ex-wife's right to make that kind of decision.

I'm a vegetarian ( for 17 yrs) and I rarely ever get sick.
I'm also into alternative medicine and vitamin supplements.
You only think it's wrong b/c you don't have enough knowledge on vegetarianism. Just because you aren't educated enough on something doesn't make it wrong.

Answer 7

No no no no!!!!! sorry but you are so wrong! My best friend was brought up VEGAN! and he's the healthiest person I know. I turned veggie last year and have barely been ill since, I decided to turn vegan after learning that milk is not good for you at all, and my breathing is so much better already, honestly! and i just don't like eggs anyway so fair enough. Trust me, read "Slim 4 life" by Jason Vale! I'm not kidding, it makes meat seem a lot less important there and t all makes perfect sense, and no it's not a veggie book, just read it to understand. Trust me, you're step son or whatever is fine, if he's ill, it's not cos he's veggie

Answer 8

I think its his mothers decision not yours. I hated it when my (now ex) step dad tried to take decisions away from my dad.

A vegetarian diet is much healthier, and as long as he is getting sufficient nutrients, he should be ok.

I've been vegetarian 4 years now, I still get a cold. But I got colds when I ate meat.

Answer 9

People who think that you HAVE to have meat or animal products (dairy, eggs) to be healthy at ANY stage of life (including infancy, childhood, pregnancy, lactation) do NOT understand our bodies nutritoinal needs, all of which can be met from the proper plant sources.

Just, when the child is over at your place, encourage them to eat a variety of legumes, green leafy vegetables, fresh fruits and veggies. If he heats those things he'll be fine.

His tendency to be sick is NOT from vegetarianism. It is quite possible that a well-meaning veggie/vegan parent COULD have their child on too narrow of a diet (meaning, not the right balance of the right plant foods) but that is a problem with understanding nutritional needs. BUT it's no worse than thinking that you HAVE to have meat to be healthy. BOth are ignrance, a lack of proper understanding of nutrition.

Answer 10

All you can do is respect the Mothers decision and ensure he has the right goodness when eating at your home in line with his mothers wishes which requires some research and this section someone will give you the best web site to meet both his growing needs while respecting his mothers diet beliefs

Good luck

Answer 11

To look no further than a biased story about parents(who happened to be vegan - NOT), is to be dumb. I say, read alot!!

If the kid is sickly, he's propably a dorito vegan. He needs veggies, whole grains and beans.

If you check out sites like these below, you'll be amazed to discover the hidden truth about food.

Muscling Out the Meat Myth http://www.vsdc.org/meatmyth.html by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.
http://www.famousveggie.com/peoplenew.cfm?&VEG=1&ORD=L
http://www.veganmusclepower.com/
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/6/emw253235.htm

The meat that people eat was created by plants.