A topic that often comes up in various threads is how to deal with kids when only one of the parents are vegans, and how vegan parents respond to question about why we don't give our kids animal products.
Some of these questions have to do with health, in which case other, similar question would be relevant as well: what do we answer if our children grow up and have heath problems that are commonly brought up with consumption of animal products? What would one say, for instance, if a child later gets cancer and finds some of these scientific reports, and asks why s/he was raised on all these animal products?
In a world with so much violence it seems essential to bring up a child in a way where not harming others becomes a natural part of their lives, and something which is focused on as soon as it's relevant to do so. If a child is used to respect chicken and fish and cats and cows, it seems obvious to me that the also will respect members of their own species.
What if a vegan falls in love with someone who is a heavy meat eater? Or - a situation that could be even more confusing - what if one of the partners go vegan after they have moved together and have children?
There are some hundred millions on this planet which find eating meat unethical. I don't think anyone finds it unethical to eat an apple. This seems obvious, but is, IMHO, a rather essential element in this context.
So, if She is a vegan and He is not, both are OK with eating apples. Does any of the parts find it unethical to *not* eat apples? Probably not. One of them finds it unethical to eat animal products, the other one doesn't have a personal problem with doing that, and (of course) like beef etc.
The meat eater isn't against eating plants. But is he against not eating meat? He certainly can't find anything wrong with not harming animals, which means that the problem, if there is one, most likely has to do with the health aspect of it all. Most of us are raised to assume that we need animal products for health reasons, and we can't take it for granted that our partners automatically will let go of this assumption only because they like us.
If I were a vegan who didn't eat organic food, and had a partner who did, I wouldn't have anything against feeding our child on organic food, as long as the food didn't collide with my ethical viewpoints and what I know about nutrition. But the question is - why wold a meat eater have anything against having their child being raised on a vegan diet? If he's not against eating apples, and can't prove the thousands of dietitians who approve vegan food as a good choice for children wrong, why would he have anything against telling his partner that although he isn't vegan, he doesn't have a problem with raising the child as a vegan since his partner wants it?
The next question is tricky, because I'm a vegan: what if I was not a vegan, and had a child with a vegan partner who wanted us to raise the kid on a vegan diet? The answer is of course easy for me, because I'm vegan and biased: I would tell myself and the child and others that I'm not against animal products, but my partners is, and I'm fine with raising the kid as a vegan because I don't see eating vegan as something I find unethical or unhealthy.
There are many types of diets, and there are many many variations of how and what vegans think and eat.
Some examples:
A) Macrobiotic vegans, who eat only what's available in their own area, adjusted to the season they live in.
B) Organic-oriented vegans, who always try to avoid anything which has been exposed to synthetic fertilizers etc.
C) Fruitarians.
D) Raw fooders.
E) Vegans with a very high focus on various supplements and natural/unnaturlal ways to always have the optimum levels of all known nutrients.
F) Vegans who more or less only focus on the ethical aspect of their diet, and pay little attention B12 and other nutrients other vegans insist that vegans in our denaturalized world need to focus on.
G) People who may not agree fully in being vegan, but who eat varied, plant based food (only), and complements when supplements they find necessary (just like they did before they became vegans)., either based on general advice or taking blood tests etc.
H) Vegans who prefer local, organic food but also eat other (vegan) food.
And so on...
A similar list can be made for meat eaters:
A) Plain meat eaters, who also eats plants (most do) but never supplements.
B) People on an Atkins diet.
C) People who follow the blood type theory.
D) Raw fooders who also include meat.
E) Macrobiotic people who aren't vegans or vegetarians.
F) People who eat standard food, but go for organic and local food whenever possible
G) People who live according to what some of our ancestors lived on (in certain periods); Paleo etc.
Such lists could be very long: Hallelujah Diet, South Beach Diet, The Kind Diet, The Glycemic Index Diet, people who follow McDoughalls plans, Mediterranean Diet, Low Carb, Fresh Diet, the Andrew Weil diet, the Dr. Fuhrman diet and about 100 more options....
If two people raise a child together and make two short lists of what each of them are willing to accept, would there be any reason to not agree upon a choice that both of them see as healthy choices (and doesn't clash with their ethical perspective)? Would anyone want to say to the other person that even if they see the diet they choose as acceptable both from a health and ethical perspective, they still can't agree to raise their children on such a diet? If they both look at each others list, and end up with one person being OK with A, B, C and F, and the other one is OK with C, E and G, C is what they have in common.
Even if it's only one of the diets both them can accept, it seems to me that there is no problem - at least in theory. But again: I'm of course biased and may simplify it. Old habits, pride and more could of course make it tricky, initially, to agree in practice, and not only in theory. But that's a different problem.
PS - regarding the thread title - there is no existing "ABC theory". I should probably rename it, to "LCD theory" (Lowest Common Denominator)... because that's what it's about.
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