turning myveggie 2yr old into a vegan!

[tadpole1707]

hi everyone, iwant my son to grow up as a vegan. i know eating dairy is cruel and suports the meat trade and i dont want my son or daughter) to have any part in this. i have (just) turned vegan again-this time i will stick to it i have been vegetarian since i was eight.
any menu ideas of what i can feed my son? he doesnt really eat alot of dairy really, just stuff like yogurts and chocolate, he has always drank soya milk and drinks two big bottles full a day.
i really want him to eat healthily as i have noticed he has slowly stopped eating. i need easy recipes for hiding veggies as he is slowly stopping eating them. any ideas would be great!

also another thing-if i do manage to get him to be vegan, what can i do when he goes to get his fvourite chcolate from the shelves when we are in the shop? or when he sees other kids eating non-vegan food at his toddler groups etc? should i always make sure i carry a vegan alternative with me? how much should i explain to him at this early age (28 months) about why we are vegan?

cheers, lucy

[pat sommer]

Bribery. offer twice as much vegan goodie as non-vegan. I never used the term when my daughter was that little; I kept it concrete "oh my, that has dead piggy skin" for gummybears, and for dairy "they took away the baby's milk". Not as harsh as it sounds; I keep the tone surprised or matter of fact. She just found the treats that became favorites and once established it wasn't a big deal to mix with omni kids at nursery. if your little one loves animals nothing could be easier!

[Kevster]

The new 'Feeding your vegan infant with confidence' book from the vegan society, and written by Sandra Hood would probably provide some useful ideas.

http://www.vegansociety.com/catalog/...roducts_id=242

[Cherry]

if your little one loves animals nothing could be easier!

I agree that children do seem to have a natural love of animals and that can definitely be handy! When my eldest niece was 2 she was absolutley horrified when, after feeding her neighbours chickens, she was told that she was going to eat chicken! (And so she should be!) Alas, from then on any animal was called 'meat' so as not to upset her and now she is 12 she thinks eating meat is perfectly normal.

I'm sure your son will soon get used to it. Don't feel guilty about him not being able to have certain chocolate bars that he wants from the shops, firstly because you know that being vegan will be healthier, and secondly because he hasn't been able to choose his own diet before now and I'm sure it has worked out ok. There are quite a few non-dairy yohgurts, desserts and chocolate bars out there. My smallest nephew is just turned 3 and loves provamel desserts and soya yoghurts. My sister isn't vegetarian but started buying them for me when I visited and now she gets them just for Jacob! He doesn't like soya milkshake though.

Toddlers are well known for their erratic eating habits so don't worry too much that it is just because you have gone vegan. My other sister's step son wouldn't eat vegetables, so she used to hide them in things by puree-ing them or grating them into tomato sauces. He wouldn't eat cauliflower so she used to grate cauliflower into his food and he didn't ever complain!

My nephew was always much more keen to try things when he had been involved. Maybe your son could be in charge of sprinkling the grated carrot or could have a choice about which vegetable you used?

I hope it goes ok

[princessemma]

I've only just seen this thread. My daughter is just approaching three and we too are converting to veganism (is veganism a word?) anyway in my limited experiance I would suggest;

1. Always keep sweets with you.
2. If he attends any playgroups or nurseries make sure they give you warning of special occaisions and other children's birthday's as they might send in cakes. I would also send in a bag of vegan sweets in case they or you forget.
3. If my daughter wants something non-vegan I say 'that one isn't nice to the animals, mommy has got something that is nice to the animals'
4. Don't get dragged in arguments about veganism being unfair to children, unless you are talking to someone who has bothered to do some research it's pointless. Just say 'I respect your choice of lifestyle please respect mine'
5. If you don't already know how to bake and cook learn now. When other people taste your brilliant vegan food they'll be hooked.
6. Last of all try to meet up with other vegans or at least some vegetarians you might have a local group.

Best of Luck !

[gfgirl]

Both of my children are vegan's, they are 4 and 5, and they understand what it means to be a vegan. They know that we do not eat anything that comes from an animal. We started telling them as soon as they started asking. Which was about a year ago.

I always keep dried snacks in the car for those "just in case" times, dried fruit bars, cereal bars, crackers and stuff like that.
I have cupcakes and cookies in the freezer at school too, and also at close family members homes.

Some snack ideas:
The kids love to dip veggies and crackers into hummus.
Fruit or veggie filled muffins.
Granola bars are easy to make.
To hide veggies, you could try to puree them into you pasta sauce.
I like to make veggie breads, zucchini, carrot, sweet potato, squash, etc...they each bake up well and taste great.
Cook white fleshed sweet potatoes with regular potatoes, when cooked, mash them together with a little of the cooking water. I like to throw in a minced clove of garlic at the begining of cooking the potatoes too.
I hope this was somewhat helpful.
I find too that my guys are more willing to eat foods that they have helped to prepare, it's time consuming to have those extra hands in the kitchen but it can be fun too.
Have fun with it.
Robin.

[Princess_Ava]

I don't have kids but I am addicted to this website http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/
It would be very helpful to anyone trying to raise their children vegan.
Read as many of the comments as you can or post your own - Jennifer, the owner of the site always responds to questions and many have asked her for advice in regards how she deals with teaching her son about veganism and dealing with play dates at omni houses.
good luck!

[tadpole1707]

oh thanks for all those replies! some good food ideas there-im gonna *try* the veggie bread one!
princessemma-whereabouts in the midlands are you? im in chesterfield!

anyway,so far its being going great-this morning he started saying "cow" and got upset when i brought him his soya milk...dont know where he has got that from though as he has never had cows milk! i just explained to him...cows milk is for babys cows..we have nice milk that comes from soya beans"...didnt know how else to explain it to him really!

lucy

[princessemma]

I'm in Redditch. The only thing I can think is did your dairy milk have a picture of a cow on the front? If so he might just miss the picture. Just wondered.

[princessemma]

Oh I forgot you've always given him soy milk, has he ever had dairy anywhere else?

[englishvegoboi]

Smoothies are great for kids and a great way of getting nutrition into them. I'd use oatmilk as too much soy may not be healthy. Add bananna, wheatgerm, a dessertspoon of flax oil, half a teaspoon of spirulina and half a teaspoon of wheatgrass powder and possibly some soy yogurt. A little maple syrup is good too as this is a good source of calcium. Some mashed cheakpeas will increase the protein content of the smoothie. This combination works really well.

[englishvegoboi]

I forgot that your child is only two so a dessert spoon of flax oil would be too much and you may need to cut the other proportions down accordingly