This question is for all you kids who say your parents won't let you be vegetarian (clarified)?

I think that one of the problems (It was for me anyhow) is regardless of if parents have the right food available or not, is whether the parent is allowing their child to do what THEY want as apposed to what is being inflicted on them.

I grew up with a very healthy omnivore diet - so cutting out meat would have been easy in theory but my parents just wouldn't allow it - and when you are 8 or 9 you aren't in a position to go making your own food and in my experience, even if you were, you'd probably be thrown out of the kitchen.

I actually talked to one of my science teachers at school about becoming vegetarian very early on, and He told me to not do it until I was old enough to do it by myself, and also once I was old enough to not still be developing. The logic makes sense kind of but the frustration of knowing what you want and having to wait for what can be an eternity is what brings a lot of those kids here to look for an alternative way out.

Secondly, a parent won't always change their view in light of information such as that just provided by yourself. The stigma attached to vegetarian food makes even making the first step difficult sometimes - so a lot of the kids that come here saying 'my parents wont let me be vegetarian' are having a problem just convincing their parents to give it a go - whether they can do it healthily or not is a whole other ball game.

Getting a whole family to receive nutritional help could well be the way to go, but it isn't always feasible in reality - if I told my family that, they would have laughed in my face

I'm sorry if I have misunderstood what you have written! You made some excellent points btw

sometimes i think horror movies can be a good way for kids to learn what's real and what's not. some kids, anyways. i saw the first saw movie, i thought they overdid the gore so much that it failed to be a good move at all. i was actually bored more than freaked out grossed out. i once watched rose red with a three year old (not mine). i wondered how she would react, so i waited and watched her watch the movie. she sat there, totally absorbed. all she did was ask periodically "the monsters stay in the tv right? they cant come out?" and i would assure her they couldnt. the only other thing she said was "if i saw something like that not on tv i would cry." but she is also a very very insightful and intelligent kid for three years old (well, she's four now). im not saying i would do this with all kids, some can handle it better than others. i would have been terrified at that age. i was afraid of E.T. til i was 12 :/ i was a wimpy kid when it came to movies that featured anything strange. lol

This is all very nice in theory, but the reality is, many (most) households don't have healthy diets. They don't buy fresh fruits and veggies and beans in big enough quantities that a vegetarian could eat them without having an unbalanced diet. This isn't child neglect. It's just less than ideal.

I work with kids. If I was going to start reporting every instance of less than ideal home lives to the school counselor, having a highly processed diet would be one of the last things on my list.

It boils down to this, especially with jr high kids: if the parent is willing to help, great. But they might not be able to spend the time researching and helping their kid work out a balanced diet, making meals/teaching their kid how to cook, and they might not have the money for fresh fruits, veggies, and meat subs, which can all be fairly pricey. If the parent can't/won't do these things, then probably the kid won't have a balanced diet and should probably keep eating meat until they are in a situation to better control their diet.

Ideally most kids should be able to find a healthy vegitarian meal at home, however most kids can't even find a healthy meal at home.

Certainly not providing proper nutrition is neglect, however what is proper nutrition is often lost in a sea of very smart marketing. Many people think that buying these brilliantly marketed "healthy foods" which are a concoction of processed franken foods, few calories and a whole lot of added vitamins and minerals constitutes a healthy diet. Many people just have convenience foods in thier homes.

It is hard to find a vegetarian option in a home where dinner consists of popping a frozen lasagna into the oven, or whipping together some hamburger helper. That is most households. Until people actually figure out how to cook, purchase and feed themselves whole healthy foods most homes are not going to have those easily found healthy vegetarian options.

Even on these boards I often cringe to read people advocating just go buy some boca burgers. Eat some morningstar farms. What these foods really are is processed soy nuggets loaded with salt and high fructose corn syrup to make them tasty, they are overpriced and nutritionally void.

Most poeple don't know how to eat. Most kitchen do contain unhealthy processed foods. To most families a healthy diet is too much work, or a complete unknown let along a vegitarian diet.

parents won't allow thier children to become vegetarian becuase parents don't know about healthy eating habits, and a vegetarian diet is a lot of work and a lot of money when you can't even feed yourself a healthy diet.

I think most responders misunderstood your original post. I didn't read it as you were implying that child abuse is going on if parents don't feed their children vegetarian diets. I think people overreacted, basically because you mentioned a school counselor. The sad fact is that many families have too much of a meat-centric diet or one that consists of lots of non-food food, like fast food, frozen food, processed junk.

I do believe that there are some good reasons why parents may not support a child's vegetarian decision. Some kids around middle school decide to become vegetarians because they don't want to eat Babe anymore, but don't plan on doing any research or contributing to cooking or anything. Some of these kids may think subsisting on french fries and grilled cheese is perfectly fine. A parent may not want to deal with the hassle for something that is "just a phase."

Many Americans do not know enough about vegetarianism to know if it is healthy. I know when I became a veg (in college), my mom asked a lot of questions about protein, iron, calcium, etc. Wanted to know if I put meals together that had "complete proteins" and other random questions. I answered her questions, but it wasn't until I managed to be a veg for a year with no medical issues that she started to believe that it could be a healthy diet. If parents aren't that informed, they may believe it's unhealthy/dangerous. Not that uninformed doesn't even imply they live under a rock; I asked my sister to give up dairy for a month and she proceeded to ask, "How will I get my calcium? I'll get sick if I don't drink milk." She grew up hearing that milk is necessary for healthy teeth and bones, when studies have indicated that's not the case. Some of that stuff is hard to get past, especially when the parent is not the one who wants to make the change.

Hope that helps!

Theoretically, yes, if there is enough healthy food in the fridge and pantry, you should find enough fruits and vegetables to eat veggie, but their point is that it makes it hard when you can only fit so much in your fridge at a time and vegetarians need to have a fridge full of certain things, and people who eat meat, other things. It is not about just not eating meat, it is a whole diet change and that reflects what your kitchen will look like. Another thing to consider is that when I first wanted to go veggie, my parents said no because they were afraid I was too young and would not stay healthy. I went to the doctor and took them and the doctor advised me on ways to get protein and stay healthy, then my parents took the time to buy certain things that I needed. If you eat the same as a meat eater and just dont eat the meat, you are missing out on a lot of nutrients, so you need special food and it is a whole family change if you need certain foods in the fridge, which means sacrificing room for other stuff.

You can also be healthy with meat and just because there is not enough food to eat veggie does not mean it is not healthy. I would do what I did and go to the doctor with them and talk to a doctor about it. Then they will see that you are serious and want to really be healthy without the meat.

Very clear.

Thats an argument I've never gotten, but I've never thought it out so thoroughly and precisely as to why it bothered me.

And yet its sad, because so many families are just stocking up with meat and junk food. My family is better than most, but my parents still buy a bunch of sugary crap, and when there's Oreos and soybeans sitting on the counter, guess which one my siblings grab? Most people just are too lazy to give a damn about their health.

I haven't had an issue turning vegetarian in my family with the preparing my own food issue (my family didn't want me to though- they are under the old "meat is the only protein" impression).

I'll start off by saying that just because a kid wants to do something doesn't mean parents should allow it.

That aside, budgetary reason might account for that. If one kid eats most of the fruits and veg because he's a veggie, and the budget does not allow to buy extra to make up the loss to the others in the family it throws off everyones' nutrition. I know that while I was in my early 20s my food budget way incredibly tight, while I did buy fruits and veg, meats and grains (rice, pasta, and the like) were by far the cheaper and much more filling alternative. I simply couldn't afford to eat loads of them every day. Even simple bread by comparison was pricey.

I'm veg. and i just cook my own meals out of the regular foof that my parents have always bought. they support me, but dont go out of their way to help me. once in a while they buy veggie burgers, but usually its fruit, veggies, rice, pasta, beans, cheese, bread, and peanut butter, and it works out fine for all of us.

Again you should also address this question to ALL parents and not just to fit your vegetarian moralizing crusade. In your fanaticism, you automatically assume all omni households as unhealthy.

A household who has soy burgers and nothing else but vegetarian junk food cannot possibly be eating healthy either is it? But that fits your agenda because it is vegetarian doesn't it? .

-The parents are responsible for determining what is good for their kids, not you.

-A vegetarian diet is not automatically healthy nor is it a necessity for anyone to be healthy.

-You do not determine what needs to be given daily, You have no scientific nor professional qualifications to back up your rant.

- Similarly, you have no moral or professional authority to determine for others what is healthy and what isn't;t. You are merely interfering with the parents rights to determine what is good for their children.

Rephrasing your "question|" does not change the basic idea of what you saying. Kids should "rat" on their parents if they do not support an unnecessary lifestyle choice. But I should thank you for coming up with this. Because frankly, you are exactly why people laugh at and reject vegetarians as a group. With friends like you, who needs enemies? I think you should go back to yoru PETA forum freinds and ask them to rethink this one like they should so many otehr PETA fiascos.