Discussions
Would you consider raising your kid as vegetarian?
Posted by piggingsanspig • 1/07/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: avoiding meat, food, healthy living, lifestyle choices, parenthood, personal choice, raising kids, vegetarianism
We love food. We love all living beings. Aye, there’s the rub.
Recently, hubby and I decided to try our hand once again at being vegetarians. I started my blog, Pigging Sans Pig, as a way to track our progress and to keep us honest. Well, more or less.
One of my site's features is a monthly poll on all things related to vegetarianism and healthy living, and this month's question is this:
Would you--whether vegetarian or not--consider raising your kid as vegetarian?
Here's where to vote:
piggingsanspig.wordpress.com/your-call/
It would be great to hear from fellow bloggers and to find out what you think. I look forward to blogging about the results and about the topic by early next month. Thanks very much for your input!
User Comments
-
I'm vegetarian but I'm unsure whether I'd raise my kids vegetarian someday. I stand corrected but I think you do need some meat in your diet initially, while you're growing up.-
Hi, flamingpoodle! I'm on the fence myself, and want to do more research about it. Don't have kids yet, but if ever it happens, I definitely would try my best to do the right thing for them.
Cheers!
-
-
Ah, not really. I'd rather stress on exercise and eating healthy food. Hey, who said all non-veg food is unhealthy? -
My daughter made a choice to become a vegetarian at 6 years old and even though my husband and I were not we respected it. She is 24 and still a vegetarian and very healthy. We didn't really have any problems related to it as she was growing up, I just had to be very creative and did a lot of research on creating a menu that was healthy and met all her nutritional needs.-
Wow! jafabrit, that's amazing! First, that your daughter made the decision at 6 years old, and second, that she stuck with it. Even if you and your husband aren't vegetarians yourselves. I'm curious as to what made her decide to do it?
-
We were taking the kids to a rare visit to mcdonalds and we passed a field of cows and my husband made a joke and said, "look there are some mcmoo cows" and my daughter asked what he meant. When he told her that is what the mcdonalds burger are made of that was it.
-
She seems like such a smart and sensitive kid (although yes, she's no longer that). I'm impressed!
-
-
I don't think so. There is nothing wrong with eating meat. Animals are here for us to eat (some of them anyway), and if it's prepared properly I don't have a problem eating or serving it. My kids will not eat pork or shellfish until they are older, but beef and chicken are totally fine. -
As a Human, you're supposed to eat meat. The only reason a 6 year old would not want to is to what, save animals? To give in to that kind of logic is not only stupid but bad parenting as well.
Repeat it with me: Animals are meant to be eaten.-
Humans aren't supposed to eat nearly as much meat as we previously thought, actually.
And stating that allowing your child to have their own thoughts or opinions about compassionate treatment of living things is "stupid, bad parenting" explains a lot about the current world we live in today. -
Humans are equipped to eat anything. If it doesn't talk back to you, it's food.
-
-
I would. In fact, me, the hubby and our child were vegans up until a little while ago. We only stopped due to financial barriers (the vegan and vegetarian freindly foods were outrageously priced!)
-
Anok, I totally agree with you on how it's so expensive to maintain a vegetarian lifestyle. On the top of it, there are not enough choices out there. I do hope that changes eventually!
-
-
I DID raise my daughter as a vegetarian. Nobody is going to mess with her today. She's a supervisor in a nuclear plant.-
LynneaUrania, are you vegetarian yourself? What was your daughter's reaction to being raised vegetarian? Thanks for your response!
-
I've been vegetarian since 1979. It has worked for me. And apparently it worked for my daughter as well. Did she try meat at other times? Sure. Did she stay with meat? Not as far as I know. If she did, that's her own decision.
-
-
i suppose if i was unfortunate enough to have a baby brontosaurus.
(hmmm ... probably need to move closer to yellowstone come to think of it.)-
Good luck with the potty training.
-
-
i'm looking at my daughter 16 years old, healthiest kid you've ever seen, never eaten meat or fish or chicken or worms
my son needs meat, his body type is different
oh, i've been veg for 38 years, just gone back onto fish a year back-
Interesting! I haven't considered body types. Must give that some more thought. Thanks!
-
-
Very good question. I've been a vegetarian since 2001 and was a pretty hardcore vegan at the start. Back then I would have said 'yes, raise them vegan'.
But now I realise you have to let people be who they are. We don't own our children. We parent them. So I'd let them make up their own mind, and just turn my head if they started gnawing the meat off a bone! -
No. I give my children all food groups, no substitutes. If they want to be that way when they are older, so be it, but it will be their choice. Mama will still gnaw on a steak regardless of what they eat later on. Besides, from what I have learned/experiences children, especially toddler a age need a relatively high amount of fat and protein in their diets to offset the super high metabolism and abundance of energy. -
we, as a human we can eat vegetarian and meat, when we refuse to eat each one of it, for me we reject what is god give to us and that is ungreatfull manner
but if we are sick and can't eat meat so that is ok. So for me growing children need to eat all group food. -
No. Children need protein. And I can not live without my red meats.-
My daughter got plenty of protein and grew up to be a healthy 24 year old. I can understand people being concerned but as a parent of a vegetarian there are a myriad of ways of making sure a child get all the nutrition and protein they need.
-
-
I am a Vegetarian, I and I am young and heathy ( by young, I mean middle schooler!)
-
you are a rabbit
-
Hey, that's great, Madeleine! Good for you. Would you mind if I interview you for my blog one of these days?
-
-
Thanks very much for the responses!
If anyone has the time or interest to pitch in their vote in my poll, I would really appreciate it. I'm planning on blogging about the results early next month, and while I would add whatever response I get here, it would really be helpful to get results from the poll. Voting is anonymous, and everyone's vote counts--whether for or against. Thanks!
piggingsanspig.wordpress.com/your-call/ -
No.
There is a lot of study and work involved in having a healthy vegetarian diet, to make sure that the incomplete vegetable proteins are combined with complementary incomplete proteins to make up a complete protein. That is a whole lot more work than I am willing to do when a chicken leg or a steak or a slab of salmon will provide the nutrients with a lot less hassle.
Vegetarians who include cheese, milk and/or eggs in their diet will get vitamin B12, a nutrient essential to brain development and function, but given that humankind is designed to chew and digest meat as well as veg, I think vegetarianism is an aberration that can, more likely than not, result in poor nutrition.
And saying you are a vegetarian and you are healthy is bunk: you may have multiple nutritional deficiencies and be unaware of them. Only after you have been fully examined by a medical team and specifically checked for nutritional deficiencies can you (or anybody else on an unbalanced diet, for that matter) claim that you are "healthy."-
Only after you have been fully examined by a medical team and specifically checked for nutritional deficiencies can you (or anybody else on an unbalanced diet, for that matter) claim that you are "healthy."
In that case, I'm vegetarian and healthy.
I think you are referring to amino acids. It's a fallacy that we necessarily need to get protein from meat. All the protein we get has to be broken down into amino acids before we can use it anyway. Meat is not an essential source of protein, but it is a good source of iron. There's more amino acids (all of them, essential and non-essential) per unit of mass in dairy and egg than what there is in meat. Likewise, lentils and buckwheat contain more iron and amino acids than meat.
The problem is that most children cannot synthesize all of the amino acids into protein yet, so they need to get the protein from somewhere. Hence, breastfeeding..
There is no one diet that is right for everyone.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_amino_acid#Use_of_essential_amino_acids -
Then I can make that claim since my daughter's health was tracked by her pediatrician and when she got older and decided to become almost vegan she went to see a nutritionist. One of the most important things she tracks is iron and makes sure to eat iron rich foods (along with supplements).
-
There are statistics that point out that vegetarians in fact have a 20% lower mortality rate than meat-eaters (they get sick less often and live longer). Plus, meat is full of traces of antibiotics, hormones and stress toxins, not to mention typically composed of more than 50% saturated fat (since they're being fattened up for better profits).
www.flex.com/~jai/articles/101.html
-
-
I and my husband are vegetarians because of our religious practice, and yes our kids will be vegetarians too. I have cousins that grow up as vegetarians,and they're perfectly fine. Being a vegetarian doesn't need to be an expensive lifestyle. It's all in a matter of simple living but high thinking -
hell no!! -
No but we are slowly going to raising our own meat with out all the stuff added to them. We usually have veggies at every meal (home grown most of the year) and Always provide my kids with fruit and veggies at all times instead of junk food. -
Not vegetarian...but vegan. Mine have been since birth -
No, that's a choice they can make themselves! -
I'm a vegetarian, my daughter is not, though she tries to eat sensibly. I'm in it more for the simplicity and my love of animals, than for the health. Frankly, these days, with all the contradictory information, I don't know what's healthy or not. And I try not to worry about it. -
My lady is vegetarian but I am not. We decided to let our daughter decide for herself when she reaches the appropriate age. -
my son chose a vegetarian lifestyle when he was in middle school. It started with a wrestling diet and he just stuck with it. He's 21 this Fall and still eats a mostly vegetarian diet. -
Im a beef and pork enthusiast...so personally I couldnt be a vegetarian, but if my kid would choose to be vegetarian i have no problem with it. -
I am not a vege but my friend does. She is real proud with her vege status and that is it, when I first heard that, my impression was like 'cool'!... haha
Anyway, she still eat eggs (egg is what, animal? or suit that vege?) and thin cheese burger?
By the way because of vege eating habit, her skin looks so healthy. That is the real benefit that obvious to me.
Add Your Comment
Login to leave a message.
