My teenage son has a big group of friends from different faiths, both boys and girls. What I have seen is that all of these young kids respect each other’s choices, be it their food or clothes. Sometimes the vegetarian or Jain friends sit separately or sometimes they eat at the same table depending upon their comfort level. Instead of questioning or ridiculing their food choices, the kids respect whatever their friends want to follow or believe in. There are girls in the group who wear short dresses or shorts and the boys don’t make them feel uncomfortable, rather they are protective about them. In fact, once when my son overheard two ladies criticizing the girls of his group for their choice of outfits, he asked me, “Why did those women have problem?”
I believe the adults sometimes need to learn from the children. Our society specially questions and criticizes a lot about others’ choices. Personal issues like choice of career, marriage, to have or not have children, gender of the children, whether a woman wants to work or stay at home, whether someone is fair, dark, short, tall, or other “beauty” traits, whether one wants to be a vegetarian or non-vegetarian, whether one wants to study or work in India or abroad, whether one wants to stay joint or nuclear, whether one wants to learn something or start life afresh after a certain age, whether a girl is wearing a saree or shorts, etc., etc…should be totally left to the individual.
Respecting ones choice is something we teach or need to teach our children but for inculcating this we adults need to follow it first…
Life and its different shades 