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Reddit user sparks debate by letting vegetarian child have meat behind parents’ backs
By Joanna Sarah-Freedman
08 Dec 2022
2m
A mum has caused controversy online after admitting to letting a friend’s vegetarian child eat meat at a birthday party.
Speaking in a post on Reddit, the parent talked about how she had thrown a birthday party for her 10-year-old son, only to discover that his veggie pal was tucking into a meat filled pie.
Instead of stopping him, she let him continue eating it, despite knowing his family was vegetarian – and it’s safe to say the situation has caused a heated debate online.
Asking if she’d done anything wrong online, the mum said: “I didn’t want to embarrass the boy in front of his friends by taking it off him so I just let him eat. He didn’t seem to mind or notice that is was meat.
The little boy ate a meat pie at the party (Credit: Alamy)
“Anyway he must’ve told his mum what he had eaten as she called me up the following day and got angry that I served meat options at the party.
“I said my son loves pies so I wasn’t going to omit them from the menu just because her son was attending. And I presumed her son knew what he could and couldn’t eat. A few more choice words and she hung up.
“I spoke to my son about Alex’s vegetarianism to see how strict his diet is but my son didn’t even realise Alex was vegetarian so I’m wondering if Alex knows he is vegetarian?”
Later in the post, the mum detailed that she had chatted to her sister about the incident, adding that she told her she was wrong.
She then opened the floor to fellow Reddit users to tell her if they agreed, and a lively debate ensued.
The incident happened at a kids’ birthday party (Credit: Alamy)
Some people thought that the woman wasn’t to blame, noting that the son should have been aware.
“He’s old enough to know if what he wants to eat. His mother can rack off. Don’t worry about it,” said one.
Whilst another agreed: “At ten he 100% knows what he’s doing. He’s making a choice and the mom is gonna have to deal with the fact that the kid might not want to be veggie.”
However, others took a different stance, saying it was her responsibility as an adult to make sure he was eating the right food.
“She could have asked him to make sure he knew what he was eating, and that it was something his mother said he couldn’t have, without screaming and disrupting the party and reaching into his mouth to pull the food out,” argued one.
As another chipped in: “She should have at least checked in and made sure he knew what he was eating”.]
It looks like the jury is still out on this one…
