The Coco Puffs comment was not meant to literally apply to your own situation. It's just an exaggeration that applies to the question of whether or not a parent deciding to limit certain types of foods can really be termed "deprivation" if those decisions don't harm the child's health in some way. I don't think there's anything wrong with the omnivore approach, but I also don't think there's anything wrong with a vegetarian or vegan approach if it's not a health negative for some reason.
Anyone who raises their child as a vegan shouldn't be allowed to have children. Being a vegan is quite extreme even for an adult, forcing that upon little kids should be considered child abuse.
No diet is one-size-fits-all, just like no medication is one-size-fits-all, which is why I already mentioned the health aspect being the important part when it comes to children. However, claiming that vegan diets are always harmful to children isn't really factual.
Chimps don't cook their meat. They don't raise animals. They don't grow crops. Quick, everybody back to the stone age! Our society is unnatural!
Meat is pretty tasty uncooked. I love me some sashimi or steak tartare. Also, I make that argument because vegetarians and vegans often make the argument that eating meat isn't natural. Humans are apes, and apes are omnivores that hunt and eat meat. A human eating a vegetarian diet is just as ridiculous as a dog eating a vegetarian diet.
I'm not making the argument that it's "unnatural". I'm making the argument that there's no reason to be worked up about another person's diet, unless a health issue was involved. You guys make it sound like you're constantly having to fend off raving, militant vegetarians. It's a little bit like listening to conservative Christians worry about the country turning "atheist".
Don't get me started about those atheists. That Scientology bullcrap they believe in is absolute nonsense.
It's a matter of mental development Alterego. If they are constantly bound by their parents world views, it stunts their ability to cope in situations where they need to make their own decisions and judgments, as such they will NOT be healthy.
Give me a break. Substituting different protein and vitamin sources as alternates to meat/dairy at meals isn't going to stunt someone's ability to make decisions later in life.
That's not what I meant and you know it mate. Forcing people into ceritan veiw points causes them to become less plastic, unable to fit to new circumstances and situations as they are used to having the ideas they accept forced down their throats by their parents/care takers.
Eh? Why would raising a child on a vegan diet be less justified than one that has meat? Just because one may be more common in society doesn't mean it's more justified. As alterego says, if their diet is fine for their health, it's not an issue. Seems you're creating a strawman argument.
Just because you don't believe in eating meat/dairy etc I don't think you should force that onto a child or any other person, its brainwashing. My beliefs and views are mine and mine alone, I wouldn't force them onto my daughter. I think for children forcing them to eat a vegan diet is actually a pretty cruel thing to do. They are severely limited to eat just a few types of food and can end up missing out on a lot of important things, one of the big ones being B12 which vegans find it very hard to get. I said before if in a couple of years time my daughter comes to me and says she doesn't want to eat meat any more then I wouldn't ask her to but to force her to not eat meat I would feel like I was oppressing her and forcing my world view on her.
You could flip that argument on its head easily enough. Just because you choose to eat meat and dairy then you shouldn't force that onto a child. A healthy diet can be achieved in many ways.
We don't, we put food on her plate and she chooses to eat what she chooses to eat. We don't moan at her or force her to eat anything she doesn't want to. At least we are giving her the choice of both whereas parents who feed their children on only vegan diets do not.