Who would raise my child vegan?

[go4green]

Hello everyone,

My husband and I recently increased our life insurance and have been tortured with the decision of "who" to name as beneficiary, of the trust or "who" would take care of Elle. It's a horrible thing to think about under "normal" circumstances.

His family-dairy farmers and mine-hopeless carnivores, ughhhh. Did anyone else have to face this dreadful question? Who would raise our daughter "vegan" if something happened to us both? It's our most important requirement; she "must" be raised compassionate and healthy! How do I come to peace with this?

All replies, input welcome~Jenna

[Sylver]

Hi! I would imagine that whomever you might choose to raise your daughter, if necessary, should respect all your wishes about how you want your child to be raised. As long as the person(s) agree with you that they will follow your wishes, then Elle should be raised as you would raise her, no matter what. Are there any aunts or uncles or close friends who are a little more open to veganism, that can be considered? I don't know if I am any help here, but good luck making a choice! :)

[go4green]

Thanks Sylver, I wish that were the case, I mean I wish we were close to someone open to veganism. My family might be more open if we lived closer, then I could work on them and they would see how great the food is and it's not "that" hard, to make healthy and compassionate choices. When I brought the topic to conversation with my mother she said "NOBODY is going to feed Elle the way you do, it's just too hard, I wouldn't prepare two seperate meals all the time". My husbands parents don't know the difference between dairy and non-dairy and they don't want to learn. My husbands sister is married to a hardcore deer hunter, she went on a hunting trip when her baby was 2 weeks old and her milk dried up, so he is fed-you name it, and they think we are the freaks!!!

I hope I live, but I have to set up this trust fund. What to do?

[HoneyNBen]

I and my husband share your problem. Our families are honestly freaks. I mean lets take out the vegan thing..my son has a corn allergy and they'll give him corn. It took us 3 years and we still have to 'remind' them to get them to change. My own father thought I was lying about sons allergy until he gave my son a candy that was full of corn syrup and my 2 year old son ripped the brand new carpet of one week up off of the floor and tacks! :) Hehe! now that was so great! I just loved it. Dad actually apologized and said he thought I had become one of those mothers who say things about their kids to get attention. Gee thanks dad! Glad to see you know me! Anyways, the family are all hunters. They think we should let them feed the kids non-veg stuff on holidays since it's a 'special' time. Matter of fact, today my dhal's grandmother informed us that if the kids were ever at her house she'd feed them cheese! Now, that almost got her hit. Does anyone live nearby and would be willing to become the guardians of my children? I'll become yours gladly! I honestly think that by posting this I'll have better hopes than with anyone related to us. Luckily though we have one vegan friend whom we trust to raise the kids vegan. The only prob...she's a single mama...she couldn't afford our kids and she has a two bedroom condo. Not room for T&R! So, she said she'd take them if we had a huge insurance..so...we'll be upping our insurance coverage $$ everytime we can afford it. Oh and our agent told us that being vegan can get you a discount. That and being in your ideal weight range.

[Erin Pavlina]

We had long talks with members of my family regarding who was to be the guardian of our children and who would be most likely to maintain our wish that our children be raised vegan.

My twin sister has agreed to take care of our children in the unlikely event of our demise and she said she would try to keep them vegan but could at least keep them vegetarian. So I asked her what would keep her from keeping them vegan and she said she would simply be uneducated and wouldn't know if she was missing hidden ingredients. Aha! I can solve that problem!

I let my best friend (vegan) know the situation and instructed her to educate my sister on how to keep my children vegan if we're dead. She was very very amenable to that and said she would fly down, shop for the kids, show my sister how to keep them vegan at home easily by making a list of what they could eat, and then being there for my sister when she had questions.

I now feel that the chances are extremely good that my children would remain vegan.

Perhaps we can find a way to educate the people who are taking care of our kids to make it as easy on them as possible.

However, the bottom line for us was not whether she would raise them vegan but would she love them like we do. Love, in my opinion, is even more important than the veganism. If it came down to a choice, that is.