Our family home is vegetarian. It has been that way for our kids since day one because we, the parents, have been vegetarians for decades. But our family embraces our individuality. We deeply value our children’s ability to decide for themselves what values and beliefs they hold. Even though we parents have the ultimate ruling in any given situation, we do our best to support our children’s unique, independent spirits.
How does our vegetarian home fit into this structure?
We began each of our kid’s journey in this world as vegetarians. In our family, that means that we eat nothing with a face: meat, fish, fowl, and bugs. But we do enjoy dairy and eggs. Since our Plum has been old enough (about 7) to make informed decisions and to fully understand where meat comes from, we’ve allowed her to choose her own dietary path. Plum (now ten years old) eats meat, fish, and fowl. But she has not yet eaten any bugs by choice.
We discussed with Plum why we choose a vegetarian lifestyle: environmental impact, ethics, health. We encouraged Plum to verbalize why she wanted to eat meat. Her reasoning was (and continues to be) naïve:
>“Chickens are ugly so it’s okay to eat them.”
>“It tastes good.”
>“My friends eat meat.”
And those explanations are okay. The discussion is the important part. We believe that with continued conversation, Plum will voice more cogent reasoning for eating meat. Or she may go back to being a vegetarian. The bottom line is that we don’t want to force Plum to be a vegetarian if she doesn’t want to be one.
But it does create an interesting dilemma within our home.
Since Bluey, Mom, and Dad are vegetarians, but Plum is not, we’ve decided that we will not stock or prepare any meat in our home. If we are out at a restaurant and Plum orders meat, no problem! If Plum is at a sleepover and that family is preparing hot dogs for dinner, enjoy! There is no judgment, pressure, or conflict. But our home is now, and will remain, meat free. If Bluey decides to join his sister’s dietary pursuits when he is older, the “no meat in our home” rule will remain in place.
That is how we have dealt with this ethical dilemma. Has this or a similar conflict of values arisen in your home? How did you react?