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Today's question arrives courtesy of Jeff!

"Hola Jason and Fellow Dadcentric Bloggers,
I have a question for ya...  I'm a vegan, my wife is not. I try not to be the annoying, ''I can't eat anything, ever. Because at some point in history it traveled in a car that used animal products to make the tires.'' kind of vegan- but I still (obviously) have some clearly defined beliefs when it comes to eating meat. My wife wants the Kiddo to eat meat until he decides otherwise. I'm fine with milk, maybe eggs... But I don't want him to eat meat. I don't think it's necessary or healthy, and I wish I hadn't in the past. I understand the difficulties as far as making sure he eats the proper nutritional content without meat. But it's not too horribly difficult, especially if he's not vegan.
This is the only real issue we've been in completely different courts on.
Any ideas, suggestions, whatever, would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Jeff"

Jeff,

When I saw this question come across my desk at DadCentric HQ (think Hall Of Justice, without the cool spandex costumes…oh, we have costumes, just no spandex), I wanted to snag it immediately. Okay, so, I eventually forgot about it until Jason brought it back up but it really is the thought that counts, right? Why’d I want to field the question so badly? Because I, a vegetarian myself, might be the sole voice of reason in this sea of carnivorous dads. In short, I think I can solve your problem – you’re right and your wife is wrong. There. Feel better?

Several years ago, both my wife and I gave up meat. We never ate a hell of a lot of it so it wasn’t too painful. When we had our daughter – despite the fact that she was exclusively feeding on the boob juice – we started thinking about meat. We figured she can make her own choice about that and, until then, we’ll just steer (no pun intended) clear.

My advice, admittedly one-sided since I already unconditionally sided with you and probably alienated your wife, would be to avoid meat. You can't unring that bell, you know?  Let that be your son’s decision. Until then, I’ve been assured by my conveniently vegetarian pediatrician, he’ll get what he needs from fruits, vegetables and jerky. Wait, strike the jerky thing.

Also? Many of the world’s greatest minds are or have been vegetarians. Leonardo Da Vinci, Nikola Tesla, Franz Kafka, Paul McCartney, and of course Pam Anderson and William Shatner, to name just a few.

Just do me a favor, though? Don’t let him become one of those crazy-ass PETA people. The ones who oppose the mass slaughter of in ritual sacrifices are fine with me but some of them go a bit far. You know, just watch the extremes. Oh, and keep him away from some of that faux meat crap, like fake bacon. If you’re going to travel down that particular road, you might as well just kill and gut a pig.

So, to recap, please refer to the following talking points for a healthy, persuasive conversation with your wife. I think you’ll agree, there’s no way you can’t win with ammunition like this:

1. I’m right, you’re wrong. Nanny-nanny poo-poo.
2. William Shatner
3. If you eat meat, you let the terrorists win.

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