Why do people say it's wrong to raise children vegetarian?!
A meat eater has the freedom to feed their kids an omni diet and I have the right to feed my child a meat free diet. When they grow up they can make their own choices.
(Back to the question, why do people think it's bad? Vegetarians don't lack nutrients so that argument is invalid)
Answers:
People think it's wrong because they *think* that vegetarians lack nutrients. It is indeed an invalid argument, as evidenced by the American Dietetic Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics opinions on the subject, but many people will continue to insist that it's not healthy.
Also, for some strange reason people think it's perfectly acceptable to decide what your kids eat if and only if it's also what the majority of people eat. As soon as you decide something different, then it becomes brainwashing. Ugh. I can't explain it, but I can sympathize. My kids will be raised vegan because that's what I believe in. But I'll take a lot of crap for it.
(Wujoosay: mother's milk absolutely IS both a vegetarian and a vegan food. It's what nature designed for our infants and veg*ns have no edict whatsoever against nursing.)
Maybe because some parents think it is more important to keep up with the "definition" and be called "true vegetarian" or "true vegan" than practice good nutrition for their kids.
As long as you feed your kids what you think is best for them, obviously using your common sense of what is generally a well balanced diet, you're fine. But as soon as being labeled as vegetarian or vegan becomes more important than common sense, then trouble is going to happen.
I hate to think what would happen when the "what am I allowed to eat" kids start having children of their own.
I agree with you completly. People are ignorant and think that childeren need protein and "they're still growing" even though many childeren are raised veg and they're very healthy. I plan to raise my kids vegetarian tell they're old enough to make their own choices or maybe they'll eat alittle mat if their dad does. It's also very annoying when people say to kids who want to go veg "wait tell your grown up your still growing and it's not healthy for childeren". I'm 14 and I became a vegetarian at 11 and I have a friend who's 11 and went veg at 10, a friend who's almost 14 and has been vegetarian his entire life and in my class there are lots of 13 and 14 year old vegetarians and we're living proof that childeren can be vegetarian.
I don't think you should worry too much about what "people" say. Does anyone seriously deny that ovo-lacto vegetarians CAN be healthy? But very few of them actually learn what to eat and then eat it. If it were easy, there wouldn't be three times as many former vegetarians as current vegetarians in the US.
I don't believe the vegan diet can be healthy. The death of another baby in France recently only highlights the problems with the diet. The parents were true believers. They believed (as posted here on this site often) that the vegan diet is perfect, no supplementing needed. Dr. Campbell, an educated man, an internationally known researcher, tenured professor at Cornell, author of THE CHINA STUDY, is on record as saying the vegan diet is perfect and does not require supplementation. After raising one child successfully on the standard French diet, they became vegan, moved to a small community and were fine until their second daughter got sick. As it turned out she was B12 deficient...because her mom was B12 deficient...and she died. These were dedicated vegans. They didn't give up their principles when told to take their daughter to the hospital. Unlike most vegans who give up their "testing on animals is wrong" as soon as they get sick, these people believed in their diet and their child died.
http://letthemeatmeat.com/
Personally, I really wouldn't want my kids to eat a chicken who had it's beak seared off without anaesthetic, was pumped full of antibiotics from birth, grew so unnaturally fast that when it tried to walk both its legs broke so it lay there distressed in its own faeces. I would definitely rather feed my child vegetables than subject them to this disgusting cycle. It's the parents that are taking their kids to KFC, and getting them addicted to a high-meat diet that are bringing up their children wrong. It makes me sick.
I raised my three children vegetarian and they are healthy young adults. My oldest daughter is now raising her child vegetarian and her doctor and health visitor are all for it. Meat eaters use the weak argument that children will not be getting enough protein and iron but we get plenty of that from a plant based diet, there are no nutrients that cannot be obtained from an healthy vegetarian diet. Meateaters are doing more harm to their children by stuffing them with fast food, hamburgers and fatty meat.They are giving their children a bad start to life and many refuse to acknowledge that they are abusing their children with unhealthy food.
I think that they say it's wrong to raise them vegan. Honestly, I think it's healthier.
I am a vegan and I would probably raise my children vegetarian, at least. When they are old enough to make their own decisions, then they can do what they like.
I think it's more that vegans miss out on a lot of nutrients and protein, I am deficient in quite a few areas, but if you eat well, you should be fine. My best friend was raised a vegetarian (given, it was due to her religion) but she is perfectly healthy and has no intention of turning to meat.
Some people are just ignorant.
Mostly it's because they are ignorant and think they know everything. It is like members of a religion who think that kids who are not raised in their specific religion need to be saved because they are going to hell. They just mistake their thoughts for facts, that's all. Luckily most of them are smart enough to learn new things and realise when they are wrong, but some of them never do.
vegan biologist
i think maybe people would just argue that your not letting them experience all the foods, where as a meat eater does?
but people should stop being so worried about how other people are raising their children and focus on their own! :)
i think as a parent you have a right to control your child's diet, as long as when they're older, you give them the opportunity to explore other foods without judging them or making them feel bad if actually, they choose to eat differently to how they have been brought up :)
Because some people think that there are "nutrients" in meat that you can't get anywhere else. Basically, people are stupid and ignorant and it is actually much healthier to raise children vegetarian/vegan. When I have kids, I'm raising them vegan.
i think they think its bad because in some cases the parents that feed the child a vegan diet do not feed the child properly in regards to nutrition as they are not as informed as other people or have not consulted a nutritionist regarding the child's vegan diet
Because they'll be missing out in general. :l
Those cute little farm animals are quite good with some BBQ sauce.
P.S. Yes, I'm trolling you. Have a cookie.
http://www.allcooksrecipes.com/images/co…
people think it's because meat has some certain kinds of vitamins and things to make you grow, and if you don't get them in a young age, then you'll probably hit puberty late, you'll have problems with growing and stuff...
so why is a mother in France being tried for the death of her child that she only fed breast milk? The mother is a vegetarian. The baby died of vitamin deficiency!
Hundreds and hundreds of years we indians are vegeterians very very healthy-we dont want go for arguements,we are healthy thats all. Elephents are vegeterians and the strength you can see.
Because their body is still growing and it needs those nutrients from meat to grow and develop. I know it might sound like bull spit. I want to be a vegetarian too but I'm going to wait until I'm done growing
Becuase you need the vitamens and minerals and protiens from the meat! so u cant:) maybe when hes a little older you can make him vegitarian..
: )
it is only a wrong interpretation, there are no bad effects at all as long as u eat the correct nutritious diet
Because they know nothing about it. They read a few news articles about ill/neglected children that seem to emphasize the parents veganism. You don't hear much about Vegetarian neglect now-a-days, there is no way they would get away with it. These articles are never followed up when the truth comes out or with more balanced, in depth, analysis. Here is a few examples that I have heard about:
The couple in the US that fed their baby only soy milk and apple juice in 2007. - This is not part of the vegan diet. “The vegan diet is fine,” Chuck Boring, a prosecutor, told the jury. “These parents lied about what they fed him. He just was not fed enough. They’re not vegans. They’re baby-killers. Think about how long they had to listen to his screams and hollers.”
Rickets- There have been a few cases of Rickets in the press regarding vegan children (and a heck of a lot more non-vegan cases that go mostly ignored). Most non-veg people get their vitamin D from sun exposure, egg yolks, and fortified foods. Vit D and Calcium are the big ones that you need to watch out for if you are vegan (not that it isn't a problem for non-vegans).
The French couple that only fed their toddler breast milk - That French couple were not feeding their child at all, vegan or otherwise. If they had been a meat eating family 1)The child would still have died and 2) We would never have heard about it. First vegans don't feed their babies breast milk and now they only ever feed them breast milk? Don't think so.
Soy milk and Apple juice: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/wo…
Vitamin D and Rickets facts: http://www.algaecal.com/vitamin-d/vitami…
French Couple - http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20110329/twl…
It's your choice what you give your kids and how you raise them ie veg or non veg bur the reason meat is encouraged is it has essential iron that is not present in veggies
You can't replace the same vitamins that are in meat
Both are bad ideas. The baby/child DOES NOT get the correct nutrients, and is more vulnerable to diseases. ALSO
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20110329/twl…
Vegetarians get anemia....
My twin is a vegetarian and she refuses to eat meat...now shes sick because she was too young to live off proteins....
Let them eat MEAT.
It is GOOD for you.