Raising your kids as vegetarian?

Your friend needs to lighten up. No offense to any of the vegans or vegetarians who run across this discussion. You made that choice on your own, and that's entirely up to you. However, this 2 year old child isn't old enough to make that decision, and this isn't the type of decisions a parent makes for a child. It's our job to provide a balanced and diverse selection of foods, and then allow our children the freedom to form their own choices in regards to the issue when they are ready. For the record, I love my meat and have no intention of leaving that out of my diet. I fed my kids well balanced meals, and as a result, I have a daughter, 11 years old, who has decided she will not eat meat. No amount of convincing on my part would sway her, so I chose to respect her choice. I pay for her vitamin supplements happily, knowing she made an active choice, based on knowledge of the subject and her emotions regarding it. But at 2 years old? No, I'm sorry ... that's much too young to be introducing such extreme behaviors to a child.