I recently witnessed a child being reprimanded by his parents for eating meat. The family is vegan and enforces a strict vegan diet for their children. The child was offered the food by a family friend and did not intend any harm by accepting the food. I personally agree with the reasons behind veganism, however imposing this, through force nonetheless is unacceptable. Rather than scolding the child, the family should have forgiven the “mistake” and used this as an opportunity to explain why they have the rules they do. Of course children view their parents as authority figures and for the most part want to be respectful of their rules. However, children should be allowed some freedoms especially when it comes to their personal beliefs and health. I found this to be a missed opportunity for the parents to educate their child, and a power play.
Meirav Weintraub
The parents used their authority in a non rational way in the scenario you laid out. Just because the parents are vegan doesn’t mean they have to force their child to be. I know the child has little to no power in deciding the course of his own life at that point but the parents still should have understood that it is never good to force your own opinions on a child.
I strongly agree that the child should be free to choose their personal beliefs and food choices. Children are still developing their own ideas and to be forced to pave their ways according to their parents can be very restricting. The authority, of course, lies in the parents. In my opinion, this performance of power play is unpleasant from my view but maybe it’s not as bad in the eyes of the child. Many of us were forced to believe in things our parents have set onto us. Some of us learn and grow from this while others suffer from it.
I agree with everyone else. I think personal decision is paramount and children should just be treated like small, but real, human beings. However, sometimes just for the sake of arguing with myself I think about what it would be like to have a child and be genuinely concerned for their health and what they eat. I personally don’t plan on having my kids eat much fast food and other things I feel are unhealthy as they grow up, I feel like its in their best interest, and as a parent I have that right –don’t I? But then I think about a friend of mine who believes that eating red meat more than once a week is unhealthy. Now I have no problem with my kids having red meat more than once a week, but I’m sure my friend wouldn’t allow their kids to do so (at least that much). I don’t think I would find that unreasonable of my friend, that doesnt really cross a line, but then I begin to think where the line is…