His Wife Intends To Raise Their Future Kids Fully Vegan, But He Doesn’t Think That’s Safe For Healthy Brain And Body Development
This 29-year-old man and his wife, 28, have been discussing having kids in the near future. Unfortunately, they’ve disagreed about the diet they want to feed their kids. His wife has been eating a vegan diet for the last five years, and she was a vegetarian for her entire life before going vegan. She hopes to raise their children vegan.
He grew up differently and ate meat most of his life. Since marrying his wife, he has mostly eaten a vegan diet and doesn’t mind. He eats non-vegan meals only when he goes out or eats at a friend’s house.
It’s been tricky for him to find decent vegan options at restaurants. After thinking it over, he knew that he didn’t want to raise their future kids on a strictly vegan diet. The main concern he has with his wife’s idea is that when he’s done research, reputable medical resources indicate that raising children on a vegan diet is incredibly difficult and nearly impossible.
“This would be because children need a lot of nutrients and fats in order to have healthy brain and body development (particularly in the first few years),” he said.
To counter his argument, his wife told him that some medical professionals and knowledgeable vegans have the opposite opinion and believe there are methods to raise healthy children on a vegan diet. He’s come across articles that back up his wife’s claims, so it’s tough for him to know that there are tons of professionals arguing opposite opinions.
In his view, continuing to research and have in-depth medical conversations would be a waste of time because they both could cite research from 10 doctors, each one arguing opposite opinions about whether vegan or omnivore diets are best for kids. The conversation would go on forever in circles because there’s an endless amount of information out there.
“The compromise I want is this: The children eat fish maybe twice a week (will be at their grandma’s house, probably). We ensure that we supplement (or over-supplement) with different vitamins. If we have chickens/can prove the eggs are from an ethical source, they can have eggs, also,” he explained.
An animal sanctuary in their area sells eggs, which would be convenient if they wanted to purchase them occasionally. Besides these stipulations, he would be comfortable with their kids eating a vegan diet the rest of the time.
However, he would want their kids to be free to eat what they wanted at about 5 years old. From then on, if their children want to eat a completely vegan diet or if they want to eat meat, he thinks he and his wife should respect their children’s decisions. Plus, he’d be fine with their kids consuming dairy, fish, and meat at school if they chose to do so.
nenetus – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
“I think this is a reasonable and fair compromise, but my wife wants them to be 100% vegan. In my opinion, it could likely be possible to bring kids up vegan, but if there’s even a 1% chance that they might develop differently/it could harm them in any way, I don’t want to take that risk,” he shared.
He doesn’t think it would be a bad thing for their kids to eat fish a couple of times per week. Upon reflection, he realized that his wife’s argument prioritizes the welfare of animals, while his view prioritizes their future children’s health and development.
What advice would you give him?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
More About:Relationships