When Veggies and Omnis procreate

Something occured to me the other day, and it’s a question I simply can’t solve. I’m young, so I won’t have to actually come across this problem for quite a while, but I’m curious about it anyway.

What’s a person to do if they’re vegn and they’ve married an omni and they’re looking to have children… to raise vegn or not to raise veg*n?

I’m not going to choose a partner based on whether or not they eat meat, because finding a good person is hard enough as it is… if I eliminate a large majority of the population, I may just be screwing myself over.

Whenever a veg*n marries an omni this question is bound to pop up… and there are so many factors to think about that depend on the individuals involved.

Naturally, I’d want any children I have in the future to share my core values (not eating meat is one of them) but do I have the right to impose that on them? And even if I did, wouldn’t they wonder “Why can’t I eat what Daddy eats?” or “Is Daddy bad for eating the poor cows?”

And what to do if little Johnny is at Billy’s birthday party and everybody else is eating hot dogs… and little Johnny can’t eat the hot dogs. And other parents may not be as understanding as one would hope.

Or what to do if they weren’t raised veggie, and wonder why mommy won’t eat what everybody else eats. That’s a hard question to answer without making the kid feel bad… at a certain age they’d understand, but I’d imagine the question might come up sooner than that.

Any thoughts? Anybody here who’s solved the problem? I’m stuck.

Well you can always say: “If you love me stop eating meat”. Of course you will have to give up something too :slight_smile:))

Acctualy that’s a very interesting topic.

This might sound like a childing jump on you but,
most people grow up and starting to eat meat.
This might be because for some part of the veg*, its just a fashion thing.
Besides its more healthy to give a baby healthy food and that is normal mixed food and no vegan food.

And how would you know this? I mean that mixed food is more healthy?
:munky2:

My wife used to be vegetarian because of me… hm…
I never asked her or anything she just stopped eating meat, at least in front of me.
Well It’s not a good thing in the end…

I believe that in choosing a partner diet is a very important issue as it may cause conflict down the line. That is not to say that an omni and a veggie will have a less than successful relationship. In most cases if a vegetarian lifestyle is presented right the new practice may be adopted by the meat eater, gradually of course. As far as kids are concerned starting them off as vegetarians gives them the option to eat meat later if they choose. My daughter didn’t eat meat the first three years of her life and stayed in good health.

Preach, she decided to eat meat afterwards?

Peace AndyBa. My daughter lives with her mother. Because I’m not constantly around to give her an alternative she did as the romans did, in this case eat meat. Sometimes my daughter and I have conversations about my decision to not eat meat. Her rationale is that it tastes good and so I should indulge.

I’m vegan & my fiance is omni. When we met i was omni, but turned veggie @ 18, overnight (after being shown a factory farming video in my animal welfare lecture). I was veggie for just under 5 years, when i started researching the dairy & egg industry - i was horrified with what i found! It actually put me off the things i used to love i.e cheese … i couldn’t stomach eating it!

Amongst the other reasons for turning vegan, i discovered some research that claims that a non-dairy diet is beneficial for sufferers of inflammatory diseases (which is what i have). I had a long talk with my partner, he had chance to voice his concerns - or ask questions, which i was pleased to answer! And after a little thought… he came back to me & said that he thought it would be good for me.

I totally understood and understand today that Matt will never be vegan - but that’s his choice! I met him when we were both omni’s, becoming vegan was a natural progression for me (but it’s not for everyone - sad, but true!) <<== don’t get me wrong - i’d love everyone to be veggie/vegan… but i can’t change the world!

We will be having children together (though not for a while yet!). And the topic of diet has come up once or twice & it is a little difficult - but we’ve agreed to cross that bridge when we come to it!

Sorry, i seem to have gone off on a tangent with this post! :laughing:

Take care & stay well!

xDDx

:smurfin:

Peace Dolly Dimples. It is wonderful to hear that you and your partner support each others decisions. It is also a good thing that discussion has started concerning your future children’s diet. Who knows Matt may suprise you!

Dolly, I read your post and it seems that if you would have to choose a dating partner now, it would not be an omni…
Am I right?

That is a tough one dodic!

I would definately be guided by my heart, i know that much for sure! I suppose that it would depend how i intended on meeting a new guy - you don’t stumble upon many male vegetarians let alone vegans… where i hail from - which would prove difficult!

xDDx

And the only solution I see is to promote vegan lifestyle as much as we can. Especially among hot babes :smiley:

Well, if all of the vegans are female, what am I supposed to do :confused:? I think that us veggies are lacking more in males than we are females, which is a major inconvenience for us ladies :frowning:.

This is true, but I know quite a few men who are kind of open to being vegetarian, or ex-vegetarian, but eat meat because their girlfriends/wives/mates insist on it. My old boss used to be veggie at work, but had to eat meat at home because his wife had him pussy-whipped! :violent1:

My parents were in an omni/vegetarian relationship for nearly twenty years! My Mother insisted that I ate meat and dairy, and my Dad never really talked about being vegetarian much: with hindsight I wish he had, because I would have probably become vegetarian much sooner if I’d realised about meat! It must have been hard for him, watching me shovel down burgers and beef pies through the BSE crisis (NB at the time, politicians were telling us that beef was safe, and raising vegetarian children was practically unheard of - vegetarianism was discouraged in teenagers because it was thought that it might affect their development). Our family were very unhealthy, because cooking different dishes was such a chore that we ended up eating processed convenience foods a lot.

My boyfriend has started talking about becoming vegan. I’ve never asked him to - I think he just wants to eat a little healthier and it would be nice to share meals more. He also used to be vegetarian / into animal rights when he was younger, so maybe he’s kind of remembering it! I guess what I’m trying to say is that vegan/omni relationships can be tough, and someone’s going to break sooner or later :wink:

With regard to children [biological clock is ticking…] they are going to be exposed to meat and dairy at school or when they go to friends’ houses, and you can’t realistically stop that happening. I would probably give them vegan food at home - I certainly intend cooking and not feeding them processed junk - but I guess my philosophy would be to let them choose what they eat outside the home? I would have to explain where meat came from in an objective manner, to avoid them thinking people are ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ Otherwise they might rebel :thefinger:

Well, my understanding is that a baby should be breastfed - both soy and cow’s milk have been linked to health problems with babies, and it is psycologically better for them to have human milk at any rate. Baby foods for older babies seem to be largely vegan - processed veggie stew, farley’s rusks, etc. - and I’ve heard that there is a high rate of lactose intolerance amoung teething children anyway?

I would be interested to read some impartial research - all the literature my doctor stocks is very pro- meat and dairy, but I suspect this is part of a government initiative to promote these industries (UK dairy industry is apparently in real trouble at the moment), or a hangover from wartime rationing? You can actually get free milk when you’re pregnant!

Anybody had experience of a vegan pregnancy?

Shortly after we met, unbeknownst to each other, my wife and I both decided to become vegetarians.

I actually became Vegan, because I thought that’s what vegetarians were.

When we moved in together, my wife became Vegan because it was more conveinent for the both of us (and cost efficient).

I would never, if I had to in the future (god forbid), seek out a relationship with a Non-Vegan.

What a loser! :stuck_out_tongue:

Yes, I had NO respect for him! His wife used to ring him in the middle of important meetings to yell at him, or make him run errands for her :salute:

Actually, I shan’t go into how he used to piss me off :wink: he had real issues with women…

Just Dont do it…

If me and my wife decided to have kids, I think it would be vegan purely because I would be the main carer for our baby and cooking all it’s meals. Easy. :smiley: