OP has two children, a 16-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter who decided to go vegan last year. OP supports their daughter’s decision and provides her with money to buy vegan food she cooks herself. However, the son has been bullying his sister over her decision to go vegan, and OP has repeatedly punished him for this behavior without any success. Recently, the son took all of the daughter’s food for the week and pretended to throw it away, causing OP’s daughter to fall into tears.
What happened?
OP’s wife suggested that the family go vegan for 30 days to teach the son a lesson. OP agreed and informed the son that they would only be eating vegan food for the next month, and if he wanted anything else, he would have to pay for it himself. However, this decision has caused OP’s parents and other family members to accuse OP of being abusive. OP doesn’t care about their opinion and says his son brought this upon himself.
The family has been vegan for five days, and the son is unhappy. However, he still has food to eat and can use his pocket money to buy meat.
Not a Bad Idea
Redditors have come together to be in support of the OP’s decision generally. However, there might be some other unintended consequences they should be careful of.
“I was ready to tell you Y-T-A because using food to punish kids is generally a bad idea.
But NTA for deciding the entire family could be vegan for a month. I shouldn’t be laughing, but I am.
I sincerely hope your parents or some school employee doesn’t call child protective services.”
Although most Redditors in the thread believe OP is taking a very measured approach, they believe there might be some repercussions that have not been considered. If her family is beginning to step in to suggest that OP is not treating her son well, there may be trouble.
People who do not understand veganism might feel like OP is cruel to their son. This might cause a less rational family member to call social services to review whether OP is a safe parent to their children.
Even though their decision is in no way cruel, it would still be a devastating upheaval to have to deal with the authorities over their vegan month.
It Is Not a Problem
There are some more passionate commenters in the thread. In this instance, they are incredulous that the son could have any reason to think they are not well-treated by OP.
“This kid has plenty of nutritious food, and it’s freaking home-cooked food, too. There is nothing remotely abusive about this. Would it be a pain for the parents? But it’s not a threat to their parental rights.”
It is a clear comment highlighting that OP is providing home-cooked food and plenty of it for both of her children. There is nothing remotely dangerous about a vegan diet, particularly when it will only be for 1 month.
Of course, as many in the comments are well aware, these actions are not harmful and, therefore, not an issue regarding parental rights. Although there is a risk of an irrational outsider reporting this, it is highly unlikely to cause any real concern for the OP.
This is Very Reasonable
Many believe that this is the fairest possible approach by the OP:
“This is honestly more of a learning opportunity than a punishment. And it’s definitely not abusive. He’s only being limited to vegan-only foods that you buy for home. He can buy/cook his own food for home and eat what he wants anywhere else. Maybe now he’ll learn to stop being a **** to his sister.”
As the Redditor notes, it is a finite period of a different diet for one month of their lives. The son is free to eat whatever he likes outside of the diet, he needs to purchase and cook it himself. This works for everyone involved and ultimately is considered a wise and measured parental reaction.
Source: Reddit