Dad secretly feeds his vegan children meat – sparking a huge debate

An anonymous confession from a father feeding his vegan children meat has erupted into a debate on Reddit with some siding with his decision and others suggesting he did it in a shady way.

Taking to the famed AITA forum on the platform, the man (let's call him Joe for ease) explained how he has been co-parenting with his ex-partner of 10 years, Venus. The pair share three children.

During their relationship, they agreed the children would be brought up on a vegan diet.

When they parted ways, Joe ditched the vegan diet for himself and slowly started introducing meat products into his diet after "sky-high" grocery bills and ensuring he was stocking up on supplements to ensure he was consuming all of his nutrients.

After carrying out research into diet and children, he took his concerns to his GP who reportedly "recommended introducing meat and animal products into their diets first to see if it would help with growth before considering other options".

Instead of speaking with his ex first, he started adding "animal products into their diets whenever they had their time with me".

He later told Venus, who was "furious" with him. She believed it was done to be "vindictive" and warned him if he carried on she would "get the Child Arrangements Order changed so she has full custody of the boys and I only get visitation."

Venus also said he had "'no right'" to go to the GP without her when it's in regards to their children.

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He turned to fellow Redditors to ask whether he was being unreasonable, with some backing his decision.

"They’re your children too. You’re doing it in consultation with a medical professional and allowing your children to choose," one quipped, as another chimed in: "If she wants to be vegan that’s fine but if their GP recommends some animal products and they want to try it, they should be allowed to decide."

Meanwhile, others believe there's a bigger issue at hand: the communication between the pair.

"Learn to communicate and co-parent," one person hit back. "Who takes their kids to the doctor and changes their diet without discussing it with the other parent first?!"

They went on to suggest they needed to set their egos aside and "sort it out with each other or through the courts".

Another agreed, writing: "When the two of you were together and made the choice to have children, you followed and agreed to a vegan diet. Then, for whatever reason, you’re looking into ways this could be bad and consulting physicians without input from their mother and simply expect her to be okay with you unilaterally deciding to change your kids' diet."

They added: "Why not include your ex in this from the beginning? Even if the animal products are the right thing for your kids, how you went about it was bound to cause issues. You had to know this. I have to wonder if you didn’t care or liked that about it."

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