A Reddit user** has shared her parenting dietary predicament…
My boyfriend and I have been dating for four years and living together for one.
We are very compatible in all areas except for one: our diets.
I follow a strict vegan diet, and my boyfriend is a meat eater. I believe that eating meat is morally wrong.
In the first couple years of our relationship, he repeatedly tried to get me to eat meat. He’d even prepare it and push the plate towards me. I have tried to convert him to veganism, but to no avail.
At this point, I have accepted that he and I will never agree on this subject, so we compromise. He does not cook or eat meat around me and keeps his meat in a mini-fridge, in return, he gets to use our extra bedroom as an office.
“Recently I mentioned that I planned on raising our children vegetarian (as vegan as possible) and he FLIPPED out.”
We plan on getting engaged very soon. Naturally, we’ve been having many serious conversations about our future, i.e. where we want to live and how many kids we want to have.
Recently I mentioned that I planned on raising our children vegetarian (as vegan as possible) and he FLIPPED out.
I have never seen him so angry!
He went on and on about how he wants our kids to be ‘normal’ and wants them to experience hot dogs at baseball games (we’re American) like he did when he was a child.
He also said that it is impossible for children to get adequate nutrition without eating meat. I told him very calmly that this is an issue I’m not willing to compromise on, and he said, “no children of mine will be vegetarian. End of story.”
I don’t understand why he’s surprised- he knows how strong my feelings are on the subject, so I can’t believe he expected me to be okay with feeding meat to my children.
This is an issue I’m not compromising on. My future kids can decide to stop being vegetarian when they’re older if they wish, but I will not introduce meat into their diets.
If my child, at the age of two, doesn’t like a single thing I feed them except for meat, then I will consider myself a failure as a person.
Parents make choices for their kids all the time. When they are young, they make every decision for their child. I’m not ‘forcing’ my future kids to do anything; I’m raising them in the way I see to be best.
I wish that I had been raised vegan from birth, I feel like I’m giving my children a gift.
“If my child, at the age of two, doesn’t like a single thing I feed them except for meat, then I will consider myself a failure as a person.”
I plan on revisiting this conversation, obviously, but we were both getting heated, and I could tell that we were not going to be productive.
I am morally opposed to eating meat. My boyfriend is not morally opposed to vegetarianism.
I’m not crazy or anything – I Just don’t want them to eat meat. Ideally, I’d not allow my kids to eat dairy or eggs, but I understand it might be necessary for nutrition, or they might choose to eat cake during birthday parties, etc.
Being vegetarian is not difficult, nor does it make some ‘weird’.
One thing is for sure; I won’t be backing down.
**This story was originally published on Reddit and has had some edits made for readability.
