To say she can’t become a vegan yet

[funnyfairy360]

So my 10yr old DD has announced that she does not believe it is Ok to use animal products any more and from now on will not be eating/wearing/using anything made from animals or produced by animals. She does not even want to be ‘forced’ to sit on our leather couch. Now don’t get me wrong I’m all for her finding her own way in life but this is not just becoming vegetarian or going goth, becoming vegan is life changing and to be honest too inconvenient and expensive for me to make happen for her right now. She said she has the right to choose I say yes when she can pay for the products and cook the food herself .....she wants vegan friendly washing up liquid/shampoo/ soap/ clothes/this list could go on and on. None of the rest of us have any desire to go vegan.

[TheMythicalChicken]

It might be very cheap indeed to be a vegan. But it's not so cheap to be a healthy, ethical vegan.

It is actually. I consider myself a healthy, ethical vegan and spend less than I did years ago eating a meat-based diet.

[RoboJesus]

colditz I don't know what Olivio is. It certainly has nothing to do with my comment

[colditz]

I'm just not comfortable feeding my children a diet that I am not sure is meeting their nutritional needs. I don't believe veganism is natural for human beings - we have the stomach enzymes and the teeth of omnivorous mammals, it logically follows that we have the same nutritional needs. Every vegan animal on the planet is a herbivore and has the digestion of one - we aren't.

[AllyMcBeagle]

Robojesus, Olivio ALSO contains palm oil

I have actually looked this up, you know. I eat meat, that doesn't mean I want to destroy the planet and it's occupants.

I'm surprised when you looked it up you didn't notice that Olivio also contains buttermilk which is a dairy product so no vegans will be eating it anyway!

[Celebelly]

I think it's one thing for her to want to be a vegan, but quite another to expect the whole family to follow suit and change their eating and life habits. I think perhaps you need to explain that she can be vegan in the things she has direct control over, but otherwise she will have to accept the rest of your family have a choice (such as no getting rid of the sofa!)

If she's passionate about it, she can learn how to make some vegan meals and you can perhaps look at meals that can easily be adapted to be vegan for her but still enjoyed by the rest of the family.

It might well be a fad (I had a vegetarian phase when I was her age) but telling her 'no' is one way to make sure she sticks to her guns about it.

[TheMythicalChicken]

If you have to supplement a diet with laboratory produced vitamins, the diet is inadequate. Surely that's obvious?

Vitamin B12 comes from dirt in the ground, which animals eat and then the humans eat the animal. It would be fine to just eat the dirt in order to get B12 but I’d rather take a supplement.

[colditz]

robojesus

colditz olive oil margarine costs £1 a tub...

Olivio is olive oil margarine

[Racecardriver]

Tell her that you will cook vegan meals if she plans meals that are fully nutrious, within budget and take maximum x amount of time to cook. There is no reason why you should take on the mental load for her ethical choices. If she wants the vegan household items, clothes etc the increase in cost can come out of her allowance/savings.

[colditz]

Ok. So find me an orangutan friendly, vegan, usable margarine I can use in a cake.

because I couldn't even find an orangutan friendly one. Hence butter.

[RoboJesus]

colditz ok... Well it's not a brand I've ever used. Weird comment

[Aridane]

It might be very cheap indeed to be a vegan. But it's not so cheap to be a healthy, ethical vegan

Yes to this!

[TheMythicalChicken]

colditz, my MIL makes an awesome vegan chocolate cake. She uses avocado instead of margarine and it’s delicious!

[Racecardriver]

@bazzelbear thank you for the B12 explanation-I had no idea!

[dadshere]

Accomodate her with food as far as possible, tell her to use her pocket money for the rest

[colditz]

No, I'm not a farmer, and didn't know about the cow's vitamin pills. That doesn't change my opinions about the human digestive system though.

[MaMaMaMySharona]

This is ridiculous and dangerous

What is this based on? People have been raised vegan for centuries and are doing fine. The idea that we need meat or dairy to survive has been proved wrong over and over again. If you want to keep eating it, go ahead! Just don’t spend your time bashing things you clearly don’t understand.

OP perhaps you should consider introducing more vegan meals for the rest of the family than telling your daughter you can’t cater for her. I understand it’s difficult to cook different meals for people but I would have been pretty pissed off with my mum if she kept giving me food that I was morally against eating

[Racecardriver]

@colditz chocolate cake works better with ricebran/canola oil than butter anyway. The oil make it moister than butter would.

[Judester24]

Please support her choice. It's a good, healthy and ethical one.

Most Superdrug toiletries are vegan, Aldi cleaning products, Astonish and Tesco Eco range are cheap, effective and affordable.
Vegan food is generally cheaper than non vegan, unless you're only buying the junky stuff.
I love how she's found such compassion at such a young age. You should be very proud of her.

[perper]

I'm just not comfortable feeding my children a diet that I am not sure is meeting their nutritional needs

I can understand this, but it is frustrating when people (and I don't mean just you) then come up with a million other false excuses as to why vegans are actually the evil ones. My policy when I don't understand something is to look at the evidence- not my beliefs, as my beliefs change as I learn more.

For what it's worth, I used to be a staunch meat eater and probably would have agreed with you on many points. Then I did my degree, and then my masters, and then my PhD, and realised I was kidding myself to try to fit in with the way I had been brought up, not the knowledge I had developed. I'd like to think it was a good lesson for me, though I cringe now thinking about how obtuse I was, and I am now much more careful to look at the evidence before jumping in with the beliefs I had instilled in me as a child.

[colditz]

Robojesus, because it's not a brand you've ever used, it's a weird comment?

What do you mean?

[colditz]

I agree, racecardriver, but oil isn't a good substitute in pastry, sadly. I wish it was, it's half the price of butter, but it goes weird, sloppy and unworkable.

[IsMyUserNameRubbish]

@DollyDayScreams Quorn is full of protein, they have meat substitute that you can use in currys, spag bols, were ever you use meat substitute it with Quorn or supermarkets own "meat free" mince, or products, they're cheaper too. They also do lovely ranges in the freezer department in any supermarket, there's way more variety now people are choosing a meat free lifestyle for either health or ethical reasons, my reason is both.
All this she won't get a good diet is a load of bollocks, do you know how long meat, especially red meat, stays in the gut, up to two to three years till the body can break it down, is it any wonder with the amount of preservatives and additives supermarkets pump in to their meat, it's full of them to keep it on the shelves that bit longer, that's not even mentioning how the fat from meat clogs the arteries of the heart and making higher cholesterol which isn't healthy for the heart or body. More and more people are removing meat and animal products from their diet because whatever the scaremongers try to tell you otherwise, a meat free, and animal ingredients free lifestyle is a healthier lifestyle.

[Bluelady]

Ridiculous and dangerous? Catch yourself on.

[Ihuntmonsters]

I'd not let a 10 year old impose their dietary choices on the rest of the family or cook them desperate meals. We eat meals together as a family so there is some compromise (ie if we were having baked potatoes ds would have a sweet potato instead, if we have pizza we don't get a Hawaiian unless dh is away, we only have hot curries if dd is away etc) but basically there is one meal and everyone eats it. I'd be fine with having a vegetarian meal a couple of days of the week and OK with giving her something adapted so long as there was no other fussiness to key ingredients (eg pulses) but not at all with moving the whole family to veganism or purchasing and cooking parallel meals every day.

[DelphiniumBlue]

How is she with lentils, pulses and beans? If she will eat these, then maybe she's serious. If not, then ask her how she is going to get the essential nutrients?
As far as toiletries etc are concerned, well she's right really, isn't she. We all know that environmentally friendly is the way to go, and if you can find products that work for her and are not too expensive, then that's all good. let her do the research.
And well done on bringing up a child with such a strong conscience.