A man, married to his vegan wife for eight years and raising a 12-year-old son together, recently found himself in hot water. His wife, aged 33, adopted a vegan lifestyle around six years ago after watching the documentary Dominion. Since then, she's expressed a strong aversion to non-vegan food, she has said non-vegan food is "revolting" and refuses to eat it.
After discussion, he then agreed to go vegetarian and be vegan in the house and around her. She also decided their son should be vegan and after seeing a dietician, the husband also agreed with the idea. He explained that things had been fine with this arrangement until a few months ago. He had begun finding wrappers from non-vegan candy and burgers from McDonald's in his son's school bag, which he had been buying with chore money.
He posted on Reddit: "I had a conversation with my son and he confessed he felt lonely and excluded eating vegan around his friends and that they always had much better candy than he did and it wasn't fair.
"I decided I didn't want him spending his pocket money on snacks and throwing out the vegan snacks we actually brought him … but I also know the way my wife feels about non-vegan products. So, I began buying my son what he wanted on our way to football practice instead."
Eventually, his wife discovered the truth about the situation. She completely flipped out upon learning about the incident. She accused him of enabling animal abuse and used harsh language, alleging that he was negatively influencing their son.
Presently, she is not speaking to him. Their son was in a state of panic. The husband added, 'I had bought the snacks for him, and he didn't know they weren't vegan.
The post below:
I am (32M) and my wife is (33F). We have been married for 8 years and have a 12-year-old son together.
About 6 years ago, my wife decided to go vegan. She was sent the documentary Dominion by a vegan friend of hers and ever since has said nonvegan food is "revolting" and refuses to eat it. After a long conversation, I agreed to go vegetarian and be vegan in the house and around her, which she was happy with. She also decided our son should be vegan, which after seeing a dietician I also agreed with. Things have been fine with this arrangement until a few months ago when I began finding wrappers from nonvegan candy even burgers from McDonald's in my son's school bag which he had been buying with chore money.
I had a conversation with my son and he confessed he felt lonely and excluded from eating vegan around his friends and that they always had much better candy than he did and it wasn't fair. I decided I didn't want him spending his pocket money on snacks and throwing out the vegan snacks we actually brought him instead of buying my son what he wanted on our way to football practice instead.
Long story short, my wife recently found out what has been going on and completely flipped out. She called me an animal abuse enabler and e few other names and said I was corrupting our son. Now she is not speaking to me. Our son panicked and told her I had bought the snacks for him and he didn't know they weren't vegan (I don't blame him for that. He just doesn't want to be trouble with mom).
Below the post, numerous people sparked a debate, and the majority of them were strongly supportive of the husband
One person said: Vegans have no right to inflict their eating preferences on others. And that includes their children. When they are old enough to complain, they are old enough to choose.
A second wrote: You can't go behind your spouse's back. Avoiding conflict always leads to greater problems. That said, a 12-year-old needs to fit in with his peers and shouldn't feel he needs to hide a burger from his mother.
A third commented: Should have been discussed within the family. Now mom is defensive, she deserves the chance to hear from her child. But should also be adult enough if the child wants to eat meat and let that happen.
Someone else said: This is abuse. Let the boy enjoy his childhood and decide for himself when he's older. Poor child and husband. She sounds controlling...
Another said: I understand him letting his son make the choice of continuing to follow a vegan diet or not, but he should have been honest with his wife. Her reaction gives a clue as to why neither husband nor son is willing to openly disagree on this issue. I'm vegetarian, but I don't force others to be. She should let her son make the decision when he's older.
