If one is going to attack vegan parents for “forcing” their children to be vegan then what about every single child that is born in the world – are they not forced into certain eating choices, religions and lifestyles? Are meat eater parents not forcing their children to consume dairy based formulas leading on to dairy and meat based solid food? Is every parent of some form of religious denomination not forcing their “religious” beliefs on their children? You see if we are going to attack vegan parents we must attack all parents as with adopting this attitude of “forcing” implicates all parents. See how stupid this attitude is?
The role and responsibility of all parents is to do what is best for their children and this should be their sole concern. Should this be to raise their children vegan that is their best decision for their child. Just like if it was to raise as a meat eater or in whatever religious denomination they believe. Of course there are bad parents and negligent parents too but I want to focus on “real” parents first.
Now my reason for focusing on this topic in this week´s Ask Dave Anything is because it is an issue that has been higlighted so much in the media online and offline in recent weeks after the Italian Couple had their “vegan” child taken off them and of course the fact the child was “vegan” was what was focused on as being the biggest act of negligence the parents had committed. What a load of crap. These were negligent selfish parents who never had the childs best interests at heart and it was their fault that the child was so malnourished not the fact he was vegan. A child raised on a proper balanced vegan diet will be healthier than any other. The real issue in this case was bad parenting and negligence. That is what should have been the main focus not that the child was being “forced” to be vegan.
Now let´s get back to vegan parents and their decision. If we go back 11 years ago when our son Max was born my wife had been vegan for over a year (vegetarian for about 10 years before that) and I was a meat/dairy/whey guzzler consuming a mainly meat based diet – that is what I had learned worked for performance and results which has always been my prime concern. When she told me Max was going to be raised vegan I went mad as did both our families claiming it was the worst possible thing one could do to a child and that he would be sick and unwell. We all waited for and expected the worst. 2 years later having witnessed the development of the most incredible healthy happy smart baby I had no choice but to look into the whole vegan and plant based lifestyle more. And in Jan 2012 I made the decision to go 100% plant based vegan and it has been the best decision I have ever made. And max now 11 is a picture of health and most think he must be 13 at least!!
I have huge admiration and respect for any vegan parents – why? Because I have experienced first hand with my wife the pressure there is to stick to your beliefs and follow through while everyone you know is telling you how wrong you are. For me there is no better decision by a parent than to decide to raise their children vegan. The benefits are endless and like I said at the start of this a parents main role is being responsible for doing what is best for their child and to give them the best possible start in life.
So if you are a vegan parent watching this I applaud and respect you. If you are a non vegan parent or future parent I urge you to increase your knowledge about food and the food industry and grow more awareness about why vegan parents raise vegan children. Do what is best for your kids. I know we have.