I had a really interesting conversation with a co-worker this morning while we were setting up for a wedding (theres just something about tieing thousands and thousands of fiddly daisies to wooden chairs that makes you want to get your mind off the task at hand) anyway, the conversation was centered around the question,
If your family has a certain way of eating, do you break those rules when your children's friends come over.
The question came from my co-worker, who is Hindu, so in her family they do not eat beef, her daughter's 18th birthday is coming up soon and she wants to have a BBQ with her friends at her place, her parents are happy with that, but are a little torn on whether she should be preparing something that goes against her religious beliefs to make her daughter's friends happy (I would like to add, her daughter, nor any of her friends have expressed this, this is really just coming fro my co-worker, going on what she's said, the only thing her daughter has requested so far is ice cream cake)
I was pretty adament that she shouldnt, but then, in line with my families religious beliefs, we are vegetarian, and when my kids have friends over for parties and sleepovers and what have you, we do not serve any meat just because the friend eats it, we dont go all out and go "Look, lentil and kidney bean loaf with beetroot salad" we keep it simple, pizza, nachos, spaghetti, fried rice and such, vegetarian foods that kids normally enjoy anyway.
However, I feel like our family is often and exception from the norm and whilst DH and I are vegetarian and serve only vegetarian food in our household, should our children wish to try meat, thats up to them, we just wont prepare or buy it for them. So if they are over at a friends house and they are eating meat, our kids know that they can try it if they want to (the only one of our kids that, to my knowledge, has tried meat is Lux, and her best friend's Mum reported that she gagged on the piece of chicken and then hid in the bathroom for an hour crying "oh my god thats so disgusting" which we all had a good laugh about afterwards)
Which brings me to the question (sorry, I ramble a lot) to what extent do you cater for your children's friends when they come over?
Id have to say that we cater slightly for them, in the sense that we make sure that we so have a food they they would eat, and of course if theyre allergic to something then we absolutely wont serve it, but we dont go all out for them.
If your family has a certain way of eating, do you break those rules when your children's friends come over.
The question came from my co-worker, who is Hindu, so in her family they do not eat beef, her daughter's 18th birthday is coming up soon and she wants to have a BBQ with her friends at her place, her parents are happy with that, but are a little torn on whether she should be preparing something that goes against her religious beliefs to make her daughter's friends happy (I would like to add, her daughter, nor any of her friends have expressed this, this is really just coming fro my co-worker, going on what she's said, the only thing her daughter has requested so far is ice cream cake)
I was pretty adament that she shouldnt, but then, in line with my families religious beliefs, we are vegetarian, and when my kids have friends over for parties and sleepovers and what have you, we do not serve any meat just because the friend eats it, we dont go all out and go "Look, lentil and kidney bean loaf with beetroot salad" we keep it simple, pizza, nachos, spaghetti, fried rice and such, vegetarian foods that kids normally enjoy anyway.
However, I feel like our family is often and exception from the norm and whilst DH and I are vegetarian and serve only vegetarian food in our household, should our children wish to try meat, thats up to them, we just wont prepare or buy it for them. So if they are over at a friends house and they are eating meat, our kids know that they can try it if they want to (the only one of our kids that, to my knowledge, has tried meat is Lux, and her best friend's Mum reported that she gagged on the piece of chicken and then hid in the bathroom for an hour crying "oh my god thats so disgusting" which we all had a good laugh about afterwards)
Which brings me to the question (sorry, I ramble a lot) to what extent do you cater for your children's friends when they come over?
Id have to say that we cater slightly for them, in the sense that we make sure that we so have a food they they would eat, and of course if theyre allergic to something then we absolutely wont serve it, but we dont go all out for them.
