The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Eating for Kids - M.s.j., Dana Villamagna [11]
Challenging interactions with adults and peers about veganism provide excellent teaching moments for vegan kids. Through this early exposure to the art of standing up for what they believe in, they will learn to stand up for themselves against peer pressure in other instances where the crowd wants them to do something they don’t think is right.
That’s So Vegan
More than 43 percent of vegan kids in our survey have encountered negative questions or comments about veganism from classmates and friends. And almost 25 percent of families in our survey have experienced the same from at least one of their child’s teachers.
Democracy or Dictatorship?
If your child, especially an older tween, follows a vegan or vegetarian diet just because his parents say so—without opportunities for questions, debates, and experimentation—the chances he’ll remain vegan into adulthood are likely reduced. Many older kids develop a rebellious streak against anything that is forced upon them.
A child who is allowed some flexibility to experiment with his food choices becomes more self-aware. He learns to tune in to how different foods affect his body, mind, spirit, and social conscience. As you consistently offer healthy, tasty, vegan foods, his palate will almost certainly develop in ways that seek out those comfort foods of home no matter what he experiments with—even perhaps meat—in his teen years. As he learns (predominantly through his parents’ example) about vegan diets and has the opportunity to discuss where animal-based foods come from and how they’re raised and manufactured, his self-awareness will grow into “other-awareness”—better known as compassion.
Your Child’s Food Personality
Depending on your child’s unique food personality, he may or may not make eating vegan a piece of cake.
Does your child …
◆ Like a wide variety of fruits and vegetables?
◆ Eat veggies both raw and cooked, including salad?
◆ Try new foods willingly?
◆ Enjoy exploring ethnic and spicy foods?
◆ Snack throughout the day?
◆ Like tofu, seitan, and tempeh cooked in many ways?
◆ Drink soy, rice, and nut milks?
◆ Eat handfuls of nuts, seeds, olives, and dried fruits?
◆ Have a natural aversion to overly sweetened candies and other “fake” foods?
If so, then he’s probably an easy vegan.
Does your child …
◆ Consider apples, bananas, and grapes the only acceptable fruits?
◆ Eat carrots and celery (or other very common vegetables)—but only slathered with dip?
◆ Shy away from any other raw vegetable?
◆ Stick to a basic, same-every-week diet?
◆ Fear all spicy foods?
◆ Eat tofu only one way: with barbecue sauce?
◆ Dislike nondairy milks?
◆ Have a sweet tooth?
If so, then he’s likely a vegan-in-training.
Does your child …
◆ Consider packaged chewy fruit snacks actual fruit?
◆ Immediately refuse anything labeled a vegetable?
◆ Test new foods by placing a tiny bit of the suspicious substance on a utensil and sticking out his tongue to touch it ever so slightly, only to announce he’s “tried it” and doesn’t like it?
◆ Like meat?
◆ Crave sweets, including heavy dairy like ice cream and cheesecake?
◆ Live on a diet of food choices you can count on two hands, including peanut butter and jelly (counts as two)?
If so, then you’re probably dealing with a reluctant vegan.
No matter what your child’s food personality, he can be encouraged to eat healthier, more compassionately, and yes, vegan. Depending on his age, this will be more or less complicated. “The Picky Eater” section of Chapter 3 is chock-full of tips to motivate your reluctant vegan to branch out and try new, healthier, more compassionate foods. Keep trying. With patience, compromise, and a few tricks and treats, it can be done.
Parent Trap
If your child’s food