Would you let your kid go veg (or vice-versa?)

In My Humble Opinion
41

here’s a data point:

my son is 8. he decided to be a vegetarian when he was 7. He came up with it pretty much on his own.

(who could blame a kid? from birth, all their stories are about lovable, anthropomorphised animals. For Petes sake, this is where a lotta kids learn their first ethics lessons. For fun we take them to the petting zoo & the dairy farm. the kids get attached. Soon enough they put 2 & 2 together and rationally ask, "Someone killed Elsie?? and you want me to EAT HER ??)

I told youngster that I wasn’t a vegetarian, but that I’d cook vegetarian for him. I eat vegetarian with him to honor his decision, but I don’t pretend that I’m veg full time.

He has struggled with the ethics of this back & forth for awhile. He really likes chicken! But he doesn’t want to cause unnecessary suffering. So he has at times decided the only meat he’d eat is free-range chicken. (“that’s lived a good happy life”) Then sometimes he just forgets & eats hamburgers. Then back to veggie a couple months later.

I don’t hold him to any of these decisions. there’s time for that later in life. right now, he’s just trying on different personalities, to find one that’s most the most comfy fit.

42

I am the father of an 11 year old son and 14 year old daughter. If my son, and it would have to be my son as Piggy in “Lord of the Flies” would have been roasting to a turn on my daughter’s campfire spit the first time her tummy rumbled, came to me and said he wanted to move from the omnivore to the to herbivore side of the fence I would listen carefully and seriously to his reasons for doing so. I would then say no.

He is a child. He is an intelligent and thoughtful child but he is still a child. With all due respect to those posters cooing about the ethical decision making powers of their children I suspect that if their children decided that Bowie knife collecting, Maxim Magazine, fundamentalism or the GOP should be part of their favored lifestyle “choices” that these choices would not be indulged regardless of how deliberate, powerful and based on ethical imperatives the child’s reasoning for these choices were.

Human’s are designed by our ancestral environment to be predatory, omnivorous apes and maximize nutritional opportunities. There are plenty of good health reasons for adults to go vegetarian in whole or part but for my part my son will have lean chicken and fish on his plate (which he can choose not to eat) until he is old enough to make his own meals.

43

Actually, if my child wanted to become a Republican, I’d say, “Sure, do whatever you want,” because as far as I know, having a Republican child does not entail any extra work as far as meal preparation or grocery shopping are concerned. Or any extra work at all, for that matter, except possibly for the extra energy I’d have to use to constantly roll my eyes.

You know, I discussed this thread with my husband last night, and he pointed out something that nobody has really mentioned so far. Namely, if you go the route that many people (including astro) have suggested, which is, “Serve a regular meal and if the child doesn’t like the meat, the child can simply not eat the meat”, your kid is getting minimal protein intake for that meal. Presumably if this continues, you’ll have the only child in the USA to develop kwashiorkor.

Maybe in the minds of some, this is an acceptable punishment for a child who won’t eat the food his parents put in front of him, but in my opinion, it’s not really an acceptable alternative. How hard is it to cook up a pot of rice and beans at the beginning of the week, stick it in the fridge, and nuke a little bit for each meal? It may not be the tastiest or most interesting dinner, but at least you’re getting your nutritional requirements.

44

“Human’s are designed by our ancestral environment to be predatory, omnivorous apes and maximize nutritional opportunities. There are plenty of good health reasons for adults to go vegetarian in whole or part but for my part my son will have lean chicken and fish on his plate (which he can choose not to eat) until he is old enough to make his own meals.”

All the current research I’ve seen suggests that what’s healthy for adults is healthy for children. Kids don’t need any extra fat or protein in their diets after age two. Most breads and cereals are fortified with iron. There is absolutely nothing in meat or fish that can’t be found in other foods. And your ancestral argument doesn’t make much sense in modern America. Meat was a valuable food to our ancestors in the wild, but they got a helluva lot more exercise than we do and it was difficult for them to hit the Safeway and pick up a package of tofu.

On another note, as I mentioned in a previous post, I don’t think honoring a child’s decision not to eat meat implies that you must pay equal respect to any other decision.

I just can’t see the point in forcing a child to eat meat. What possible value would it have. Millroyj mentioned that there might be lots of reasons that people eat meat besides the fact that they like the taste. Well, no, there aren’t.

45

I can’t believe you guys! If your kid wanted to join the honor society, would you begrudge driving them there? If they spent their day building homes for the homeless would you resent packing them a lunch?

I did not mean that vegetarians are more rightous than meat eaters. I was trying to say that meat eaters are inclusive (they are able to not eat meat) whereas vegetarians are exclusive (they can’t eat meat). You can eat a couple vegetarian meals a week and still be a carnivore. You cannot eat a couple meat meals a week and be a vegetarian.

And no, it is not a health issue. Anyone who eats a reasonably varied diet is not going to get sick because they don’t eat meat. Unless you serve the same side dishes every single day, and you never include protein rich veggie food like beans and cheese, your kid is going to be fine. You won’t even have to learn to cook such godless abominations as tofu, TVP or seitan. They can be fun and healthy, but they are not an essential part of the vegetarian diet.

46

They’d be my kids, but I couldn’t stop them from choosing to go vegetarian (or in my case, going carnivore.) This does not mean that I’d let my kid live on pop and potato chips. Or beef n’ cheese Hot Pockets.

I’ve cooked my own food from age 11 on whenever my family ate meat. My parents bought me a couple of cookbooks and I experimented with vegetarian recipes. It’s a valuable skill for a kid to learn, and they’ll teach themselves about nutrition at an early age.

47

I don’t think it’s that hard to cook for a vegetarian kid, I’ve done it.
Omitting the anchovie base from your sauce is a little bit different than giving him/her a few extra carrots and potatoes in place of the pot roast you made. I’m sure the kid wouldn’t mind the sauce additions.
My sister is becoming vegetarian, she refuses to eat meat on many occasions, and it is much easier just to say “No, you’re eating what the rest of us are eating, and that’s the final answer.”
Or, instead of making her eat lasagna (sp?) that is laced with hamburger, I set aside some ziti noodles. In a little bread pan, I’ll line the noodles with some mozarella cheese and top with sauce. More noodles, sauce, and cheese, bake it with the rest of the lasagna.
Presto-change-o, vegetarian lasagna.
All in all, not a huge deal, one extra pan to wash isn’t a crisis compared to her picking her food apart piece by piece to remove every trace of hamburger in the whole thing.
Some other food substitution suggestions:
Pasta goes a long way. Try making an alfredo sauce and adding cooked veggies to it, pour on top of some noodles and it’s easy and tasty.
Spagetti:
Before you add the meat, pour some sauce into a bowl and microwave it. It might not be the “award winning no-sauce-is-it’s-equal” stuff you usually make, but they won’t complain much. Or you could cook the sauce as normal, omitting the meat until the very end. It’ll taste more like the rest of the sauce then.
Any dish that revolves around a large meat dish:
Meatloaf
Pot Roast
Turkey
Baked Chicken
Like I said earlier, pasta goes a long way. You can find it fairly cheap at most stores if you buy the knock-off brands. Combine it with virtually any combination of random sauces and cooked veggies.
Tacos, Enchiladas, or Chimichangas
Try making quesadillas, just take a tortilla shell that you already have, top with cheese, microwave, then add sour cream, lettuce, beans, etc.
For Lunch:
PB&J, it’s not a complicated meal and most kids will eat these until they die. Peanut butter is an excellent source of protein, most kids like it, and it’s versatile. Try JIF’s new concoctions of peanut butter that include Chocolate Silk and Berry. You can make sandwiches that have PB and banannas, PB and honey, grilled cheese, and the like. I am positive that not anyone I know cooks a huge meal for lunch. Include milk in many meals as a beverage, it provides important nutrients. Chocolate milk, plain milk, strawberry milk, soy milk. Many variations there. You might want to add an everyday vitamin to their morning routine.
Breakfast:
Eggs, toast with butter, glass of orange juice, not tough, right?

All this is from experience, and it may take a little getting used to but after a week or so it isn’t the crisis situation you’d imagine it to be. If you’d like some more suggestions, feel free to email me and I’ll relate anything I can that might help.

Fox

48

Ahh, yes, vegetarianism. My daughter, having reached the ripe old age of 13, which means doing exactly what your best friend does(in this case the entire b-f family was vegetarian), proclaimed her meat independence. No problem. I just chatted with b-f’s mom, asked for favorite recipes, modified a few on my own, and all were happy. Well, except for my 10 year old son, who rolled eyes many a time over big sister’s life altering events. He quietly began urging his sister in low, breathy, Darth Vader-like tones to “come to the meaty side, female sibling”. Worked, too, I have to admit. The experiment lasted 44 days, and now meat is back on the table. Hurrah. I supported her decision, short though it was, as a positive sign of independence. Keep in mind I wouldn’t have gone along with a 13 year old wanting a tattoo, cigarettes, most piercings, etc. Compared to later teenage “wants”, this was *easy[/i

49

At this stage in my childs life, not bloody likely. My kid is Eight years old, and he is no where near old enough to make that kind of a decision for himself. If he was 17 or something, that would be differant. My kid has been brought up knowing that certain kinds of animals exist to be eaten. When he was just able to talk, we taught him that hamburger was dead cow, bacon was dead pig. He would point at them and say it. when he doesnt eat his dinner because he wants to go play, we tell him “come on, that pig died for you.”

50

I’m surprised at some of the responses. It’s just meat, it’s not like the kid has announced that he’s joining the Moonies or something.

Aside from the ethical decision debate, does anyone really think it’s a good idea to force a child to eat anything they have a strong aversion to? What’s the point? It just leads to bad associations with the dinner table. Everyone has a memory of being forced to eat some disgusting thing by their parents and does anyone ever say, “Boy, I’m sure glad Mom made me sit there and eat every bite of that congealed liver and onions. I’m a better person for it?”

There are only two food rules in our house. You have to try everything once and you don’t make negative comments about the food. Other than that what goes into your mouth is your own business, whether you are 4 or 40.

51

My thoughts exactly. I was raised in a very “meat oriented” family. It’s not a meal unless there’s a huge hunk of cooked animal flesh on the table. But I don’t think I would get that upset over my kid not wanting to eat meat. Like I said earlier, I would make the same meals, making sure that there was enough of the non-meat portion that they wouldn’t go hungry, and make sure they got their protein and vitamins through veggies and such. It might be easy for me to say since I’m childless, but I really don’t see why there would be a fuss.

52

Yes there are.

1.Personal preference–nuff said

2.Convenience–meat-based dishes are readily available in nearly every grocery, restaurant, cafeteria in America.

3.Health reasons–protein, iron, etc. Yes there are other ways to get the same nutrients, but oftentimes eating meat is just easier. See convenience, above.

  1. Economic reasons–39 cent hamburgers at McDonalds. A vegetarian sandwich at Subway is a couple a bucks.

  2. Cultural reasons–Think Thanksgiving, for example. Turkey, not Tofu, is how it is celebrated by a couple hundred million people in this country.

  3. Religious reasons–Jesus had the miracle of loaves and fishes, not loaves and seaweed.

53

If my kid(s) wanted to become veg’s. I would have to conclude I didn’t do my job explaining the life cycle. I might let them opt out of the meat portion but would not make anything special for them. They would NOT be allowed to subsitute crap (potatoe chips, cheese puffs, etc.) for meat - NO WAY NO HOW until 18 at which point they can eat whatever they want. They will have to find out how to get the nutrients they would have given up in meat and learn to cook their own foods. I would feel they are perhaps lacking in nutriants at a very critical point of their lives so I would have them take blood tests to check that everything is ok.

If a vegie came to my house for dinner I would make a small accomidation for them (making extra vegitables and not combine it w/ meat) but not a special dish.

Oh and another thing to all vegies out there - DON"T HOST A THANKSGIVING PARTY AND NOT TELL THE GUESTS THAT YOU DON"T WANT DEAD FLESH IN YOUR HOUSE TILL THE DAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING - EXPECIALLY WHEN THEY PLANNED AND PREPAIRED TO BRING FOOD!!!

(we brought the dead flesh anyway - it was tasty :D)

54

Hmmm. Good question.
We are veg right now, though I won’t force my son to eat somethign he doesn’t want.
My mum used to do that.
When dowtown, sometimes my son will want a hot dog from the vendors.
Naturally, I’ll try to talk him out of it.
But if he’s hungry, I will get him one.(don’t tell Ralph…)