well you have to raise your kids somehow vegan or not vegan, religious not religious.. in the end when they get older they will choose

These are some great points- I really appreciate the intelligent and thoughtful responses. I definitely agree that one is indoctrinated to eat meat, but I was curious about the antithetical position of eating a vegan diet and the moral, intellectual, and philosophical implications of doing so.

Plus, I think as parents, your duty is to raise your children healthy and consequently, raising them vegan be a better choice.

@hakred: if you have more, keep going!

I don’t want children but if I do adopt them or have them in the future I will raise them vegan. The diet is that much healthier for them. I would also let them know what the meat industry is like, not right away but when they’re maybe 10-12. If they chose to eat meat or dairy at that point then I would let them, but if my parents could force me to eat meat and dairy when at the age of three I was calling milk cow blood then I can raise my children to be animal lovers and kind to the environment and they can male the decision at an older age like I made mine(:

Oh, absolutely. It’s no more indoctrination than raising them to eat meat. Once they’re older, they can choose, just as I chose to be a vegetarian.

I do not really want kids, but should I have children they will be raised vegan.
I don’t see this as indoctrination, I’m not raising them to believe that should they ‘sin’ , they’re on the fast track to a fiery eternity. I would be raising them to be compassionate, environmentally responsible members of society. When they are old enough, they’ll be totally free to make their own choice on where they stand with meat and other animal products.

It’s only indoctrination when you teach them hate through fear.

*sigh*

My kids WILL be vegan. I will never pay money to support murder. How is this different than raising your kids to believe in a certain religion? Well…

A) When raising children to believe in a certain religion, you’re raising them to believe or not believe in spiritual beings, (none of which can be proven) etc. However.. when raising children with a vegan diet, you’re raising them to believe in equality and teaching them that animals feel pain just like we do (proven fact).

B) If a vegan were to sacrifice the truth and raise their children non veg, they’d have to directly pay money to support something that they don’t agree with (eggs, milk, meat, all of that costs money). If a say, a Christian were to raise their children non religious – they wouldn’t be paying and supporting satanism for example.

C) Being religious or not religious, does not hurt anybody. What you believe is in your head so long as you do not act poorly based upon that. Being a meat eater, however – kills thousands of innocent animals who only wanted a life like we do. We’re not raising our children to believe a certain thing. We’re raising them without contributing to suffering.

D) Religions obviously don’t improve your health. Veganism is proven to better your health.

E) How is raising your children to eat meat any different than a religion? You’re raising your children to believe in your own ideologies – wouldn’t you say? No? Why, is that because most of the society eats meat? Well now, we all remember slavery don’t we?

F) Raising your kids religious does not help reduce the use of our resources (water, food, fossil fuels). Raising your kids vegan does.

G) Not being religious does not contribute to global warming. Consuming meat does.

H) Not having a religion does not create more pollution. Consuming meat does.

I) Being non religious does not cause heart disease along with many other health problems. Consuming meat does.

…. I’ll stop there. Unless you don’t want me to, because I could keep going.

when i have kids I want to raise them vegan or vegetarian. I want to just teach them from an early age and hopefully they would make the right choice when they get older. but i wouldnt forse it on them.

Hell yes I would.

But aren’t we all raised on meat? So what if we raised our kids veg*n? That’d be normal to them and the people eating meat are the weird ones. So what’s wrong with raising them veg*n?

We didn’t have the right to say “I don’t want to be raised on meat” when we were babies, right? Thus eating meat became normal. And raising them veg is just that, but just…raising them veg XD

Wow, I never thought o it like that. To me, a vegetarian and/or vegan diet is an overall healthier better way to eat, of course I would want my future kids to be healthy. When They where old enough to make their own decision, if they chose meat, I would be thrilled but I wouldn’t freak out….. Its no different than a family of omnivores with one vegetarian/vegan kid.

Well I don’t ever want kids. I would say I would raise them vegetarian but then as they get older they can ultimately choose what they want. Though at the same time my boyfriend who I plan to be with for the rest of my life isn’t even vegetarian. He has expressed interest in it sometimes and tried it for a bit once but and says he might again when we move out on our own etc. I wouldn’t compare it to religion but more just compare it too parents raising kids on meat and other animal products. It might be a little bit harder as when there is meat in the house and being cooked you have the option not to eat it but if there wasn’t meat in the house or being cooked it would be harder to be able to eat it. Like if my kid came to me before they were old enough to have a job buy their own meat and asked me to buy meat I’m not sure what I would do.

I agree, if and when I have kids, I will raise them as vegetarians or vegans. I won’t force anything on them, because in the end it certainly is their choice (Just like it was mine to become vegan) but I will definatly encourage them to be vegetarian or vegan. I would raise them to be compassionate and make choices that benefit the well being of animals

well, like @CarolineS just said, “you could be forcing them to eat meat” I was. so always assumed my kids wouldnt eat meat, and from a young age teach them to be compasinate to animals, like dont take them to the zoo, and like say if you want meat go get it yourself or something. I dont rlly want kids so like, yah, but still,

Hm… interesting.. I sort of had this conversation with my boyfriend’s family the other day.
They related it to religion as well… however, I mean if you raiser your kids vegetarian.. you could be more lenient.. I mean it wouldn’t be a BIG deal if they accidentally ate meat.. but you could try your best to not have them consume it.. and teach them to understand
Yet, if they want they could eat meat… I mean I don’t know personally I’d have been happy not to ever have eaten meat..
only because I feel disgusted by it now.. knowing what I know and I find it sad that I once did
but I mean I guess it’s good to know both ends… if you never eat meat you might be more easier to persuade by others to eat it because you never knew about it… So you don’t know what you’re missing
plus it might be something that kids do to rebel against their parents..
I really don’t think either way is in the wrong.. but I would want to raise my child with compassion.. and to me eating meat is not compassionate.. but then again.. is it forcing them? I mean .. its all unclear.. you could be forcing them to eat meat.. kids never have a choice that’s just how it is.. it’s all your choice .. until they come of age..

I’ve always assumed I would raise my kids vegetarian, but was discussing it with my boyfriend and he brought up the following argument, “How’s that different from brining up your kids religious?”

Obviously vegetarianism is a form of indoctrination, much like religion, and I can’t justify its use, even if it is moral. Now, obviously if I was to raise my kids without meat, but didn’t restrict their consumption of meat elsewhere, I wouldn’t be forcing any particular ideology down their throats, yet how would I approach a situation in which they ate animals outside of the home?

Any thoughts?