I think kids should try everything. Meat, veg, fish, fruit, all of it. My 1 year old nephew is at that age where he wants to try everything, and I think that's fantastic. I think if you force a diet on kids, you end up with super picky eaters that never want to try anything new. But having said that as long as bubs is happy and healthy, then I guess it doesn't really matter what everyone else thinks rigbt

My only concern would be how meat will affect the child’s bowels the first few time he tried it. People tend to get sick from meat if they haven’t eaten it years. I assume meat would have the same effect on 4-5 year olds who’ve never had meat. If the kid does get sick, it may persuade him to never eat again. It wouldn’t be a fair opinion.

If you go with a vegetarian or vegan diet for too long (if you started as a baby) you can actually get sick from eating meat as your body never got used to it. Also why on earth does the mom think she is the only one with a say, what about her husband? It's his child as well. Also a 3-4 year old are very much old enough to know what they want to eat.

The phrase "while I'm in control of this decision" really rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it is just how it's phrased, I'm not sure. You are one of two parents, madam, the 'control' is not yours.

Been veggie since I was 12 and brought my daughter up on a veggie diet. She was always the tallest in her class and a top student so I just find the anti veggie comments bizarre. It’s very easy to eat well and stay healthy as a vegetarian with a varied diet.

It's quite possible to be healthy on a vegetarian diet, as I have been for 50+ years. I grew up eating meat every day, so when I became vegetarian, my family was not happy about it. My Dad, who was a doctor, believed meat was essential. After about three years, they realized I was the healthiest one in my family (all in pretty good health, though) and got off my case. I never ate fake meat. I don't eat fake anything. And I don't eat fast food. I'm way healthier than most people my age. No chronic diseases. For me, it wasn't even a decision. One day, I suddenly saw the meat on my plate as the rotting corpse of a poor, dead animal and not food. Instantaneous and permanent. As it wasn't intellectual, I never struggled with it or missed meat.

Interesting stats from above that make no sense: "People choose to go vegetarian or vegan for different reasons. In a 2023 YouGov poll, 55% of Americans said they don’t eat meat because they want to live a healthier lifestyle. 38% said they are vegetarian or vegan based on personal preference, 31% cited food safety concerns, 30% said it helps them watch their weight, and 39% do it because of moral reasons."

But you're not the only parent are you? Which is the point, YOU "as a mother" are making a unilateral decision which no one else agrees with, and then covering it by saying "well when he's older he can make that choice for himself.....but not under my roof!" What does "older" mean? When he can vocalize the desire? Puberty? Or ya know, "not living under your roof" anymore? If your husband disagrees, and likely does being that he's not a vegetarian....than you, are an a*****e.....and there is all kinds of examples of virulent vegans/vegetarians forcing their diets on infants only to have them end up malnourished...so have you consulted a nutritionist? Or are you just assuming that you know best? Like the pet owners who insist that kitties and doggo's can be vegetarians too! Yours is not the only opinion that matters, and if think that's how it should work go be a single mom.

I accidentally read it as 'vegan' at the beginning and got pissed on the baby's behalf. But veggie is fine

Me and my husband are vegetarian, also raising our daughter vegetarian too. I've been veggie since birth, and him for nearly 25 years. Daughter is now nearly 8 and independently checks food for the "V' label or to see if contains gelatine. She has school dinners every day, and especially enjoys their "meat free Monday" when she gets a choice between two veggie meals instead of just one. We've always said when she reaches secondary school (age 11) she can choose what she wants to eat outside of the house but we won't provide meat at home. She has no plans whatsoever at the moment but we'll see how that goes. People always know what she can eat at parties, she's not a fussy eater, and she's happy, healthy and academic, no fuss here.

Unless there is a proven food sensitivity/allergen/inability of your body digest certain protein / missing enzymes etc (a valid medical reason) then going overboard with the food control and teaching kids from the time that they're little, it just creates a lifelong problem with food. You're setting them up for failure, and eating disorders, and stress, and worse. Never a bad idea to cut back on artificial colors and weird ingredients, and sensible choices, but everything in moderation.

I think she has her thinking a bit backwards. Her son should be allowed to be introduced to meat and when he's old enough can decide if he wants to be vegetarian or not. At least IMO. Though as long as her little one his getting all the nutrients he needs I don't really see any issue with a veggie diet.

Me, my father, my daughter, my grandchild have been vegetarians as kids. We have all disliked meat in our childhood... It is a healthy diet and so good for the planet. We don't need meat... we need proteins, not Meat...

It's lovely how people trying to push their beliefs on the mother are so worried about hers being pushed on the child. Let's grow up, even if that only is possible for the moment: every parent that is an omnivore pushes this habit (or, for the sake of the argument, we can consider this a belief, although it hardly ever is), and every parent that is a vegetarian, a vegan, a christian, a muslim, a hindu, ... in that very same sense pushes their belief onto their child. It's only an issue if it's vegetarians or further, and that makes the whole bunch hypocrites. They are so worried about beliefs being pushed onto a child ... usually, that is called parenting, and as long as it doesn't impose a danger on a child, which a vegetarian diet per so does not, it's no more of an issue of theirs than it is that children are brought up to believe in certain gods, which, on the other hand, actually can cause harm, not as a side effect including imcompetence, but because of the very nature of itself.

I was a vegetarian for 10 odd years and every Christmas my mother made stuffing with pork in it. It was very tasty but they all had a good laugh when I found out it was meat. They only told me when I stopped being a veggie due to health reasons and went back to meat. Unfortunately family or not some people are twattish.

So the child can have meat but not yet because they can't make that decision. What you mean is they can't have meat because you say so.

I'm so tired of how people who eat meat but have no meaningful understanding of nutrition start acting like they're nutritionists simply because they hear someone doesn't eat meat. It sounds like OOP put months of thought into this and her family needs to mind their own business

My stepdaughter has a hundred food plan for her kids when they start on solid food and I take it as a challenge! I grew up with the "you should try foods once, twice, three times before you decide you don't like it. Then give it a try every 5-10 years." I hated honey until I was in my 30s and capers until my 40s... I find it odd that OP is enforcing her choice, but refuses to even let the father have any say. Ngl, I dislike that type of egotism... I would probably be feeding my kid chicken nuggets and bacon cheeseburgers behind her back - that type of dynamic would be bad for all concerned.