I feed my child meat even though I'm vegan. I want him to make his own choices.

• My partner and I don't eat meat, but our son does.
• We can't predict his preferred diet, so we're allowing him to eat most everything.

As a vegan, I have strong feelings about sustainability and animal welfare. However, I feel just as strongly that my son, who's a toddler now, should eat as he chooses. That's why I let my son eat a varied diet including meat and fish. Even though my partner and I don't eat either of those things, we buy and make nonvegetarian meals just for him.

It's hard to imagine what I'd give him otherwise. The idea of feeding my child a restricted diet feels overwhelming, especially as the notion of a traditional "meat and potatoes" diet is still ingrained in me, even all these years later.

I do feel like I'm taking a risk, as it's impossible to predict his future dietary preferences — if he wanted to become vegetarian or vegan, I'd feel guilty that I didn't choose that for him.

I'm also aware that he could be allergic to certain foods, like dairy or shellfish, so I wanted to expose him to as many things as possible.

When he's older, he can choose what to eat

I plan on being honest with my son when he grows up so he can make an informed decision about what he wants to eat. I'd want him to be a vegan or vegetarian not to please me but because it would align with his own beliefs.

I was 13 when I announced to my mom that I wanted to become a vegetarian, but she was adamant that I'd still eat chicken so that she didn't have to cook veggie meals. In my early 20s I became a true vegetarian, and then in my early 30s I became a vegan.

The notion that someone tried to influence my diet in my formative years has made me reluctant to do the same for my son. As an adult, I'm happy that my food choices finally reflect my values.

The one thing he can't eat is tuna

Aside from avoiding excess salt and sugar, the only place I've drawn the line is with tuna. I don't let him eat it because of the elevated levels of the toxic metal mercury and the so-called forever chemical BPA that can be found in it.

But because my son's nursery could accommodate that preference only by giving him vegetarian meals, he has vegetarian meals while he's there. Despite my frustration at the nursery's influence over my son's diet, I've tried to see it as a positive: He gets to try a wider range of meals, and he doesn't need to eat meat every day anyway.

I can choose the types of fish or meat he eats during the four days a week he's at home with me. Still, knowing that both meat and fish are affected by global issues such as pollution, overfarming, and microplastics makes every food decision I make for him feel like a minefield.

As vegetarianism and plant-based diets rise in popularity, so too does the chance he'll decide to eschew meat. If that's the case, I hope he understands I tried to respect his autonomy and do the best for him despite my own preferences.