Hi there,
I am fairly new to this forum and am loving all the great resources and support thus far. I made the switch from vegetarianism to veganism last December. I have 3 children ages, 3, 4, and 10. My 3 and 4 year old really haven't been any trouble to convert to veganism. I've explained simply my reasoning, bring food where ever we go, and they are very content and will proudly walk over to anyone who is eating something non-vegan and explain to them what they are eating and why it is not a good choice (including my husband- he gets a lot of lectures from our boys).
My 10 year old on the other hand...well, she has tasted a variety of non-vegan options and is not real happy about this new lifestyle change. I asked her to try being 100% vegan for a little while. That resulted in a huge upset where she was literally making herself sick over the situation, so I sat her down and explained thoroughly why I was doing this (and my reasoning had nothing to do with "ruining her life"!) and we set some new rules. The rules basically are that I will only be bringing vegan items into the home. That is what I will be preparing and if we go out together as a family, we will be eating vegan. If she is at a friend's house or has money of her own etc. she can choose to purchase something else. I of course added that I hoped she would carefully ponder her choice and that she needed to be moderate. This has helped a great deal and probably 95% or more of the time she is home and is eating vegan (we also home school, so that helps too), but it still bothers me that she is so stubborn. I know she is only 10, but I have shared with her the pain and anguish, not to mention all the hormones, drugs, etc that are in some of the things she loves to eat and she basically doesn't care.
Sorry this post is getting long, I'm just wondering if anyone has any advice on how to warm her up to the idea...the only way I can think of is for her to come to the decision herself and want to do it because she feels it is right for her...that may be a few years off though. I know I lead by example, but have any of you had any success getting through to older kids in creative ways???
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