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I recommend having a family powwow, where everyone sits down together and chats about the changes family members may soon see. The parents present the information behind their choices and the reasons for the upcoming dietary changes. The kids can ask questions, talk about their concerns, and have a chance to present their arguments as well. Each person can talk about their concerns and everyone can present ideas on how to eliminate those concerns. Once the meeting is over, agree that family members can stick to their diets at the end of this meeting. Children may decide to continue eating meat or dairy, but the quantity and quality can be improved and changes agreed to. Each family will find their own way; just be respectful of every person’s feelings and health concerns.

In order to create some excitement for the next phase of your family’s dietary shift, try some of these methods for getting your kids involved in the process:

Give each person a cookbook budget. Every member in the house can spend a set amount of money on new vegan-friendly cookbooks to bring new ideas into the kitchen. Don’t edit their choices, however. If your young one wants to buy Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, so be it! The recipes will come in handy when trying to soothe a cranky sweet tooth, and they’ll inspire culinary curiosity.

Hold a vegan milk taste test. Buy one box each of plain soymilk, vanilla soymilk, plain rice milk, vanilla rice milk, plain hemp milk, and vanilla hemp milk. You also can get a box each of the chocolate versions of soy, rice, and hemp milk. Give everyone a scorecard and use a scoring system of 0–10 to grade each milk. This taste test can help the family decide which milks they like to drink plain, use over cereal, and add to their tea or coffee. Bonus round: Make your own nut milks like almond and cashew and hold a separate competition for those.

Let each person plan at least one meal a week and bulk it up with healthy, vegan ingredients. Say that your oldest son chooses Thursday’s dinner and wants a spaghetti dish with garlic bread. Talk to him about using whole-grain pasta and adding olives, crumbled tempeh, mushrooms, or other favorite vegan ingredients to the sauce. The garlic bread can be whole grain as well. Plan ahead to use the best quality ingredients as well as healthy side dishes like steamed broccoli, green salads, and baked sweet potato fries.

Involve your children in the cooking process as often as possible. Kids as young as 2 years old can help out in the kitchen with pouring premeasured ingredients, mixing, or just playing with cooking spoons. Older kids can measure, chop, mix, and pour with a responsible sibling or a parent. And because most kids like projects that involve getting ready (assembling the ingredients, preheating the oven), making messy fun, transforming ingredients, and seeing the finished results of their labors on the dinner table, it pays to dedicate a little time every day to their culinary education. If you do, they’ll be more likely to eat the healthy ingredients you desire. To help instill the important life skills of basic human meal preparation, invite (or require) their help a few times a week or even nightly. Stock up on kid-friendly cooking tools like smaller aprons, animal-themed spatulas and measuring spoons, and brightly colored, shatter-resistant mixing bowls.

To help smaller vegans get involved in the kitchen, consider purchasing a Learning Tower. This adjustable step stool with safety railings ensures that your little one can help mix, stir, and pour at the counter without falling. Visit www.learningtower.info for more information.

Planning, shopping for, and preparing healthy meals are invaluable life skills. All children, whether they’re vegan or not, should be coached on the following abilities before they leave home:

Planning a menu, writing a shopping list, formulating a food budget, and shopping for good-quality ingredients

Washing produce, mixing ingredients, using a timer, sifting,