Question: If you are raising your children vegan, aren’t you forcing your ideas & lifestyle onto your children?

Answer: It’s called parenting. You are transmitting your beliefs on how you want your children to live on the planet. It is up to us to ensure a healthier life for them. Everytime you don’t allow your children to eat ice cream after dinner, you are forcing your values onto your children. Everytime you tell them to not eat meat, or pick up their garbage so they are not trashing the planet, you are forcing your values. People have an issue with forcing only when it comes to Veganism. Dr. Melanie Joy created the term Carnism to describe the invisible belief system that conditions people to eat meat and dairy products without question, and because eating meat and dairy products (Carnism) is so widely accepted, people think Veganism is the choice, or the weird choice, or the belief that is being forced down people’s throats. But Carnists force their beliefs on their children every day when they say that it is okay to eat animals, and it is okay to trash the planet. Come back in 2-3 generations, and let’s have this conversation again.