A WOMAN has revealed she feeds her vegan nephew MEAT while she’s looking after him – but is “too scared” to come clean to her sister.
Posting on Reddit’s “Am I the A**hole” forum, the auntie revealed that her “sister has been vegan for many years” and has been raising her 10-year-old son a “vegan since birth”.
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As the woman’s nephew attends the same school as her son, she explained how she picks them up from school everyday and gives them both dinner before her sister comes and collects him.
But despite her best efforts to cater to her nephew’s dietary requirements, the woman says she has recently started to feed him meat while in her care.
She wrote: “A couple of months ago, I left them with their homework and snacks and went to do some chores, came back and found nephew and son sharing chicken nuggets.
“I told him those weren’t vegan and he told me that he eats meat in school sometimes.”
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Admitting that she was “too scared” to tell her sister, the woman said: “I continue to give him vegan options but don’t say anything if he chooses the non vegan option.
“Usually he goes for the non-vegan one. Maybe because he never gets to at home.”
Faced with the dilemma of whether to tell her sister, the woman described her as a “staunch vegan” who would “freak out if she knew he was eating meat”.
She added: “Eating animal products goes against her ethical beliefs which I completely understand and respect.”
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However, her husband is now urging her to come clean to her sister because he thinks she’s “being dishonest.”
But the mum argued: “I think my nephew is old enough to make his own dietary choices. So should I tell my sister what’s going on?”
Unsurprisingly, the dilemma has divided users of the Reddit forum.
Jumping to the woman’s defence, one replied: “Your sister might not know that she wants to eat animal products if he never mentions it.”
Meanwhile, a user supporting the vegan mum wrote: “Parents are within their rights to force their ethical views onto their children.
“Do you think Catholic parents are a**holes for making their kids go to church or are Muslim/Jewish parents a**holes for enforcing a no-pork rule? Come on.”
I think my nephew is old enough to make his own dietary choices. So should I tell my sister what’s going on?
Reddit user
But another replied: “She literally mentions: ‘I know my sister would freak out if she knows he’s eating meat.’ So it’s obviously not the child’s decision.”
A third added: “The child might not know he wants to eat animal products until he tries them. It’s a lot easier for a kid to try something and vocalise that they don’t want it than the other way round.”
Defending the boy’s aunt, another wrote: “Yeah, you’re not the a**hole. He doesn’t want to be vegan.
“That is his right. If he is old enough to consciously understand and decide then it should be his choice.”
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