Do I get to decide if my child is to become a vegetarian, or

I was raised vegetarian, and remained that way until i was 17. I disliked it. My partner and i do eat meat, but not that often (maybe once a week). Partly because of the inefficiency of meat, partly because of the cost, but mainly because the world offers so many delicious foodstuffs.

I would suggest raising your child with your same eating habits: i.e. they are not "Vegetarian" but do eat a limited amount of meat as a treat or whatever. No problems with stigma/fitting in with other kids/requiring special meals (that was really annoying) but reduced meat consumption, and they'll probably continue the same eating pattern the rest of their life.

 

there are ecologically kind ways of raising meat including beef. look at farms that practice sustainability farming. they are rare, expensive and seasonal but well worth it.

pasture beef is lower in cholesterol, completely eliminates mad cow diease and presents much lower risk of e coli.

read the book Omnivore's Dilemma which contains a great segment on a farmer in Virginia who is making a minimal impact on the environment in the environmentally disastrous beef producing industry.

 

"The first prominent modern vegetarian was the Greek philosopher Pythagoras who lived towards the end of the 6th century BC. The Pythagorean diet came to mean an avoidance of the flesh of slaughtered animals. Pythagorean ethics first became a philosophical morality between 490-430 BC" How long do fads usually last? This fad has been around for 2,500 years.

 

So you don't fully embrace what you truly believe because you are afraid to alter the way of life of your MIL? But then you ask questions about applying a "way of life" to your daughter?

I think you need to figure out what you really believe in and fully embrace it before trying to enforce a different standard on your daughter than that which you are currently living. As I said, when the child get's older, lot's of luck saying, "You MUST be a vegetarian, BUT I'm eating this meat because I don't want to alter the way of life of my MIL."

 

Yes, I knew about Pythagoras. He was in a small minority. A fad, by definition, is adopted by a large number of people, which is why young people being vegetarian is, in my opinion, a fad. Buddhism is another flavor du jour.

And yes, I know vegetarianism is practiced by large numbers of people in other countries. There, it is a way of life; here it is a fad. If a large number of people in the US convert to vegetarianism over a long period of time, the fad will become a way of life. I don't see this as very likely. People can eat whatever they choose, but they need not agonize over what to feed their children provided they give them enough nutrition.

 

Christianity, Islam and all religions are primitive superstitions. Buying a Prius is a rational decision to buy a vehicle with the most fuel efficiency and the least pollution. As for saving the Earth, it makes sense to damage it as little as possible, but we cannot control everything that can happen. Mass extinctions happen regularly and will happen again. Eventually the Earth will be destroyed by our own star, so nothing can save it. But it's a nice spaceship right now.

 

i have netflix on demand, i have actually commandeered my family to watch it and have seen it about 5 times.

if you are on the fence about growing your veggies, watch this movie. u be off that fence in a New York minute!!

 

Well, I'm NOT calling you a hypocrite, but I do think you are either a vegetarian or you are not. I would recommend you decide what you are, or aren't and then go with it 100%.

I would also say parenting changes with the development and growth of your child.

Every parent is different. Your Tiger Woods analogy? Well I don't know how Tiger was as a child, how much "Golf" was forced on him and/or how much he embraced himself.

I do think that ultimately Tiger Woods wouldn't of become the Golfer he became if at some point he himself decided it was what he wanted to become. And ultimately overbearing Parent or Passive Nurturer at some point that was a personal decision of Tiger Woods not his Father.

I'll stick with my original posts. Communication is the key. I respect allowing a growing freedom for an individual to develop and make their own decisions. If you've done a good job communicating and raising your child on all other fronts, that freedom IMO is nothing to be feared.

 

Meat production is also a huge consumer of water!

 

Eating meat caused an oil spill? Are you sure this had nothing to do with cars?

How is planting endless miles of Broccoli any less a habitat desruction than endless miles of Alfalfa?

(I try not to eat mammals, as I respect their brain function, but I never met a shrimp I thought was all that bright)

 

I am a vegetarian that likes a good brat now and then.
I disagree with your 100% or nothing idea, a little variety is good for you.

I became a vegetarian when my 12 year old daughter quit eating meat.
It was much easier to fix one meal than two and I found I felt a lot better.

 

Cut and paste from an earlier post: "It takes 78 calories of fossil fuel to produce 1 calorie of beef protein; 35 calories for 1 calorie of pork; 22 calories for 1 of poultry; but just 1 calorie of fossil fuel for 1 calorie of soybeans. By eating plant foods instead of animal foods, I help conserve our non-renewable sources of energy
It takes 3 to 15 times as much water to produce animal protein as it does plant protein."

This is very much an environmental concern.

 

Word of warning. Make dang sure you are making up for what a child's body needs if you eliminate meat. A close couple decided that they and their two kids would become vegetarians. After this, they had to keep punishing one kid because she continually was sneaking into the dogfood and eating it voraciously. That should have set off all kinds of alarm bells. As it is, she if very undersized for her age. Who knows if there is a connection. Being a vegetarian can be noble, but it requires a very high standard of knowledge if you are going to apply it to your kids.